On Saturday, we were shopping at Sembawang Shopping Centre when the Husband spotted this.
Sorry for the blurry pic!
The Husband was attracted by the crowd and dragged a tired me over.
These adorable Big Bird's head lookalike plants were drawing crowds by the throngs! That explains my 'overcast' photo.
At first, I thought they were ordinary indoor plants, packaged to be small, portable & really easy to take care, but guess what?? They are actually DRAGON FRUIT PLANTS!! Yes, that dragon fruit that we eat!
The seller, Ken, was explaining to us how they shrunk the plant biological makeup by 50 times, so that the plants would stay small & not overgrow into the real dragon fruit tree which looks like this.
They restrict the amount of nutrients fed to the plant by using coconut husks in the pots. There is no fertilizers and no soil so that they won't attract insects. Since there is no insects, no one would have to kill intentionally or unintentionally. So these made the plants really vegetarians!
I really think this is such an innovative idea! The pot is cute and handy to move around. Almost everyone like seeing some greens around, be it at home or at office! It would be great if there are different sizes for people to choose though. I have this huge dining table at home and this small pot looks kinda miserable on it. A medium pot would be great!
Low maintenance aside, another amazing thing about this Happy Plant is it ABSORBS radiation! They did this experiment with 2 plants where they put Plant A besides a computer at the work place and Plant B at a room near the window with sunlight exposure.
After 6 months, Plant A looks like:
Wow, really look like dragon fruit plant! But Plant B still looks pretty much the same. Ken claimed that showed the plant strive on radiation instead of sunlight and how this Happy Plant is not just pretty to look at but really useful to have around too.
This is my first time seeing this plant and knowing its capabilities. Though I'm well aware that plants can help improve indoor air quality, I have no idea that some can absorb radiation from our electrical devices and grow. Now, why don't the electronic shops start putting more of such plants around for the sake of its staff too?
I chose the Happy Plant 'Live' for the Husband to put in his office! It costs S$22 for this pot. A plastic round tub is also provided for watering the plant every 15 days. You are to fill the plastic tub with water to the half-level mark and put the whole pot in the tub. There's a hole at the pot base and the coconut husk would absorb the water in 5 minutes. Really cool!
We asked if the plants were genetically modified to stay so small but Ken said he's a Christian and he didn't believe in such work. So do we! So these Happy Plants are really au naturel and organic!
They are expected to live 1-1.5 years. And after which, you can bring the pot back to Green Inn Organic Plant and buy a new dragon fruit plant for half price. Oh man, I would be really sad to see it die!
By the time we left Sembawang Shopping Centre at 10plus at night, there were still onlookers at the stall. 開心苗好有攝召力哦！
Randomly, while Googling for how dragon fruit plants look like, I stumbled upon this pic of cutting the dragon fruit such that it resembles a lotus. How quaint!!
Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu
