Chinese Lily

In these 2-3 years, we have many Chinese vendors bringing in things from China to sell in Brunei such as bonsais (too extravagant), vases (too "Tai-Tais"), palm trees (my garden is not big enough to plant them), Mystic Knot home decor pieces (too lazy to buy decor pieces that I need to remove after the festive reason), bamboo plants (too common) and Chinese Sacred Lily flower bulbs (just the right thing I want and at the right price)!

The Chinese vendor wanted to sell me a pot of 10 flower bulbs for BND15 initially. I had managed to push the price down to BND12, and bought one pot home last Friday.

The flower bulbs have grown fast in just six days, see the enclosed pic.

I researched from the net, and found that Chinese Sacred Lily is in fact Tazetta Daffodil. It is a plant with white petals and yellow bulb. It stays indoor and blooms in winter. I put mine in our main living room, and it grows very well. But unsure how my mother would think if she found out the plant would turn out white-yellow.

Even though we are the descendants of Nonya-Baba and my mother is only part Chinese-descendant (my maternal grandmother is Indigenous People), my mother still follows the strict Chinese tradition of "Only Red for Lunar New Year". I could picture now the dilemma expression on my mother's face when she discovers the plant I have just bought would bear white-yellow flowers. OK, I knew. My sister Woofhams will sure say, "Chuck away before Mama finds out" haha ...

For some who might be curious to learn more on "my tribe":

Who are Peranakan, Nonya-Baba and Straits Chinese?

Peranakan, Nonya-Baba (峇峇娘惹) and Straits Chinese (土生華人, named after the Straits Settlements) are terms used for the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants in South East Asia, particularly concentrating in both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java. They are the group who has partially adopted Malay customs in an effort to be assimilated into the local communities.