I'm an enthusiastic amateur gardener, and one of the hardest parts of living in Qatar is the near-absence of the color green. The landscape is sandy, dusty beige; the sky is always a dusty blue; the buildings in our compound are a dusty peach color. My eyes ache for green, my lungs ache for oxygen. So my husband had a hard time breaking the news to me when he returned early to Doha after our summer break and found that nearly every plant in our garden had died. I suspect that the maintenance men in the compound let themselves into our (locked, walled-in) back yard to apply insecticide spray and as a favor while they were there turned off the slow drip irrigation pipes I had set up before we left. I have problems with this on many levels. But that's not the point of this post.
I took a trip to the nursery today to re-stock my garden with green. Wow. I haven't come down from the high yet. It's an amazing place: a lush oasis in the midst of the desert made possible by a truly impressive climate control system. They have over a dozen greenhouses in one compound, each about half the size of a football field, filled with wonderful exotic plants. I wat there for over two hours, and didn't see the whole place. Can you imagine? The oxygen content inside those greenhouses must be huge because just walking around gives me a euphoric energy rush.
Coming from Pittsburgh and Michigan, I am so amazed at the plants they grow: I'm reasonably well informed on the plants you typically find in Zone 5 and 6. But if you take a walk through the tropical houseplants department in Lowe's or Home Depot, those are the plants you find here growing in irrigated beds. I like to go with my friend who is a master gardener from Texas: she is much more familiar with the Zone 9 plants we have here. I don't know the names of half the things I buy - I have to rely on the list they write up and then try to research them online - but they are gorgeous and I want to rush out and put them in the ground right now. But it's 108 degrees, so I think maybe I'll wait till tomorrow morning.
The icing on the cake for this day is: not only do they let me wander around in the botanical garden as long as I want for absolutely free, I can take home any plants I want for a nominal price. Here's my bill of sale for today:
3 x lantana (3 foot tall, yellow-orange flowers)
4 x hibiscus (3 foot tall, marvelous lantern-style orange flowers)
3 x jactorpha (can't remember which one this is, probably the 3 foot tall with brilliant red flowers)
3 x spadlima (maybe the 3 foot tall plants with purplish-green leaves?)
3 x jasmine (only 2.5 foot tall but fragrant as you imagine an arabian night)
1 x rubber plant, 6 foot tall!
2 x ficus panda
12 x vinca, pink flowers - hey, I know what this one is!
12 x freein (?) - purplish leaved spreading groundcover
5 x cassandra
3 x gardenia
3 x zamicallus (?) (yeah, no idea - it's downstairs somewhere)
1 x pepperomia (small green houseplant)
3 x bougainvillia - 5 foot tall, pink flowers
1 x acanthus (?) - fleshy green-leaved hanging plant
1 x (?) fuzzy purple leaved hanging plant
Total cost: 574 riyals = $157
I'll be back.
