The Thais are Gardeners — true Gardeners with a capital G. I will never forget my visit to a military base in Prachuap Khiri Khan which looked rather like a botanical garden. Even Thai military people prefer living in a beautiful garden instead of a dystopian cement environment.
If you believe that "it's just the climate", visit some countries neighboring Thailand and you'll know that the hot weather itself doesn't make cities and people's yards look like botanical gardens.
Just as the northern climate doesn't turn lawns and parks into alpine hills.
What makes people connoisseurs of beauty, including floral one, are peaceful life generation after generation and a decent economy.
And that's what Bangkok City has had for a long while.
But let's take a break from generalizations and turn our eyes to flowers. Recently, I visited BITEC Exhibition Centre and enjoyed numerous plant stores there.
Such a visit is a pleasure for me not only because potted plants are the feast of color and, thus, a tempting object for photography but also for the reason I have appreciated flora since very childhood. I used to grow succulents on windowsills and berries in the garden and I even dreamed of creating my own botanical garden. I ended up a person who stays in Thailand endlessly, and I think that's the optimal solution for my dream - instead of establishing a botanical garden, I moved to live in a botanical garden, a huge one, a very, very... huge one we call Thailand 😁
I don't have a land to grow a garden and even no plants to care about except a tiny sapodilla in a pot. But if I had a place, I would probably try growing those unusual varieties of banana.
Look at this, how big compared with the palm!
It's not only about the look but the taste too: sellers of banana plants sometimes suggest samples to try at exhibitions and fairs. Once, I ate a piece with quite a strawberry flavor, impressive.
But Bangkokians prefer more exotic plants like everything from colder countries, for example, roses:
Roses tend to die in Thailand. But people keep trying and some of them succeed with some varieties - I am not aware of the details but you can find rose shrubs in some parks in Bangkok...
Also... I don't have the facts in hand, but I suspect that rose plant farmers grow roses in AC rooms, but customers are not told this...
Another exotic plant that attracted visitors' attention:
Grapevine. Some varieties grow well outdoors in Thailand.
Not the best image but look at this:
A guest from far away, an olive tree. Huge, centuries-old! For sale.
Another group of exotic plants originate from the tropics of the Americas.
For example, the cacti, one of the most popular group of plants here in Bangkok.
To see a dozen more cacti, check out my 2nd post from this exhibition
Of course, there are a ton of orchids:
And aroids:
Prices for plants are democratic: below 1$ for young common plants and around 5-7$ for older ones.
New arrivals, plants not many saw before in the Thai plant market, cost 100$ and more. Prices for centuries-old olive trees start from 5.000$.
Bangkok hosts plant exhibitions and fairs, and there is also a plant market.
I love attending events like this, even though I don't buy plants. I get aesthetic pleasure as if I were walking through a botanical garden, and then I also enjoy the photographs.
Hope you liked my photo walk, thanks for stopping by!
More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Stay tuned! :-)
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm and a Nikkor 24mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on March 23 and 31, 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand.