Canton Road succulents

A lucky thing (for us succulentophiles) happened during Johann Espiritu’s recent trip to Hong Kong. When one is in Hong Kong, one dreams of the excellent Chinese cuisine and the world-famous shopping. If you’ve got kids, then you also think about Ocean Park, the shows and other amenities at Victoria Peak, maybe a ride along the Hong Kong harbor on the seemingly indestructible Star Ferry and, nowadays, that newest of world attractions, Hong Kong Disneyland. The last thing in your mind is succulents. Yet while strolling along Canton Road in the heart of the city with his mind most probably on shopping for more gadgets for his photography addiction, Yo came across this wonderful planting of succulents right along the road. Very fortunately, he had his trusty camera with him. The results are the photos here today.

As one will immediately observe from the photo of the plantings as a whole, these cacti and succulents are exposed to the elements, including the monsoon rains which hit the city-state for long stretches, too. And yet the succulents pictured seem to be doing quite well. The key here is the selection of the succulents in the plantings. These are essentially composed of the more hardy species which can withstand the torrential downpours without rotting. These include Cereus peruvianus, a cactus which produces branching stems that can reach well over 10 feet. It is a plant that has adapted quite well even in our country. On drives up to Baguio, I frequently see age-old multi-branched specimens of this plant growing along borders of homes from Pampanga to Pangasinan and, of course, up all the way to Baguio itself, the "wettest" city in the whole Philippines. Baguio, for those who don’t know, receives the highest annual rainfall among all Philippine cities. And yet C. peruvianus thrives there.

Another cactus that seems to do very well fully exposed to the elements is the opuntia, particularly the species found growing along Canton Road.

This, too, is an extremely hardy plant. I remember as a young neophyte collector visiting my Auntie Bartie and Uncle Ernie at BF Homes when they first moved over there. They had purchased a house there and were busy remodeling and re-landscaping the house. There were several large and old Opuntia specimens that they wanted to replace. Guess who salvaged these beauties?

Besides gasterias and kalanchoes, other interesting cacti in the Canton plantings included quite a number of very colorful and attractive variegated plants, including several gymnocalycium species. Because of a lack of chlorophyll in their stems (and hence, their highly attractive red, fuchsia and yellow coloration), these plants would never be able to survive growing on their own roots. These plants are mutations of nature which were very cleverly propagated by some cunning Japanese horticulturists, then mass-produced for world consumption, and at a tidy profit to the instigators.

These variegated cacti have to be grafted onto a strong-growing stock (i.e., the green – meaning chlorophyll-filled – base or host plant that you can observe at the bottom of these variegates). I believe the stock used is some kind of epiphytic cacti (the name of which escapes me at the moment). But herein also lies the secret for these plants to survive growing fully exposed along Canton Road. The epiphytic cactus stocks can withstand massive doses of water and moisture. In fact, these plants require huge amounts of water to thrive.

Most epiphytes are to be found growing in the jungles of South America where rainfall levels are quite high. I have rarely observed epiphytes rotting. And so the variegated cacti atop the grafts (the scions, to be more precise) are able to thrive growing fully exposed to the elements.

Finally, a word on shopping in Hong Kong. Did you know that the Mongkok area in Tsim Sha Tsui is home to the flower and plant shops of Hong Kong? There are many stores in this area with numerous exotic species including cacti and succulents. During our last trip to the city-state, my wife and kids bought the usual Hong Kong fare – clothes, toys, the usual suspects. I, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with this stuff. Instead, I returned home with some plant paraphernalia (not plants) not available locally. All the members of the family returned home from Hong Kong fully satisfied with their wares. Hmm... I guess one can think of shopping for plant stuff, too, while in Hong Kong.

* * *

E-mail the author at succulentophile@yahoo.com.