I have been wanting to be able to find a place to get pandan, because McCormick pandan flavoring and the canned extract could not really compare to freshly boiled young pandan leaves. I searched the internet until I came upon a forum that led me to ebay. I got pandan from Thailand! I also got some banana plants, not knowing which ones will give me familiar flavors that come closer to those in the Philippines, but I do want to have nice big leaves. I got a hardy bamboo from a different US-based vendor hoping it will be hardy enough to survive our winter here (quite expensive!), and hopefully in about 2-3 years I will be able to harvest shoots and cook them (part of controlling growth in case it gets too invasive). And though it is not real food, I got jasmine as food for my soul. I have been brave to get these tropical plants (except for bamboo, which I am kinda doing a trial-and-error thing with) because my husband has started working on our sunroom (he just finished the decking for our newly installed pool). Last night, after receiving 3 pandan plants in great condition from as far as Thailand, I got excited to order some more tropicals (Ylang-ylang, malunggay, guava, kalamansi plant because mine is not flowering/fruiting, and have placed a bid on sampaguita). I am crossing my fingers that these will all thrive even during winter, and I will try my best to learn how to prune so the trees won't grow taller than 11 feet.
Hopefully, I will have my tropical paradise in the winter.
