During my memory walk of the neighborhood I stayed in for my school years, i came accross a lot of development. It was a newly-opened subdivision then, and only a few houses were there. Now it is fully occupied, and i cant seem to remember which house is whose. It's been a long time! A previously dead end street is now already opened to traffic. A large vacant lot before is now the site of a big nursery for ornamental plants, uncommon fruit trees and vegetables and a whole array of very beautiful flowers. Apparently, a former director of an agricultural international agency has decided to do what he love most during his retirement. There was also a post on the fence of a house "sweet potato tops - free". If only my house is near i can help for some vegetable salad.
I also encountered 2 ladies making a flower arrangement, made of heliconias, torch gingers and some fillings which i am not familiar. These are products from the slopes of Mt Makiling, which is a forest reserve and a protected area. Mountain dwellers plant these ornamentals under the trees or some spaces in-between them, then sell the harvests to the lowlanders.
The above and bottom Heliconia are about 1.5 - 2 meters high
Above and bottom 4 photos, the greenish-orange and orange-red varieties are Calathea crotalifera
ID courtesy of Autumn Belle
red torch ginger: Etlingera elatior
Orange torch ginger: Zingiber spectabile
One of the finished arrangements. Fillers include Dieffenbachia leaves, Dracaena sp, and papua.
