Free Plants Anyone?

When I first heard of the Hong Kong Garden Society my first thought was the members would be the stodgy botanical sort quick to impress anyone interested with their memory of scientific plant names. But being new to Hong Kong I was looking for friends, activities and something I could sink my teeth into. Little did I know that soon I would be sinking knee deep into the dump piles of nurseries with this totally unpretentious group that will do anything for a free plant.

We have a spy who lives out in the New Territories of Hong Kong where the wholesale nurseries abound. He reported that the pickings were good from all the overstock and rejected plants not sold during the Chinese New Year rush. So our adept leaders chartered a motor coach and off we went trowels, trolleys and trash bags in hand. The Chinese nursery workers stood dumbfounded as we a lit from our luxury coach, donned gloves and dug into their rejects. The luggage compartment of the bus overflowed when we were done.

Having worked up an appetite we stopped at the nearby Ping Che Temple which serves only vegetarian fooed and had BBQ pork (really tofu), deep-fried shrimp rolls (really tofu), lemon pastry stuffed with tofu, chicken chow mien (really tofu). Everything was great and it is amazing how they could duplicate the texture of cooked meat and just add the flavourings.