Plants in Abu Dhabi: souk orchids, desert cacti and air-conditioned rooms
By Mina Zayed port, next to the fish market, Al Mina Plant Souk is a horseshoe of small stalls selling house and garden plants, orchids and pots. A plant bought there, like any plants in Abu Dhabi, usually ends up living in a flat or an office with the air conditioning on, not on a market shelf. The room it is going into decides the choice more than the counter does.
Orchids from a port souk stall to a box beside roses
The moth orchid is the main plant in this section, and it comes in several forms. A single plant is potted in a jute pot, while several together are sold as a box under the name 7 Orchids in a Box. An orchid sometimes sits beside roses or next to chocolate, so the orchid becomes the lasting half of a gift that also has something cut or something to eat.
That difference in lifespan is worth knowing before choosing. A potted orchid flowers for two to three months, while a cut rose lasts about a week in a vase, so the plant keeps working long after the bouquet beside it would have gone. Anyone who would rather give nothing that needs watering at all is better off with a cactus or a glass-cased succulent, covered further on. Plants chosen by type are worth a look too, before settling on a pot.
Mild winter days, a summer out of the sun: a moth orchid's year
Winter suits a moth orchid better than summer does. From December to mid-March daytime temperatures sit around 25 °C, and January ranges from 14 to 25 °C, below the 27 °C mark that lets the plant start a new flower spike. An orchid given in winter arrives in season rather than out of it.
Summer works against it. August climbs to between 30 and 43 °C, and from May to September the day stays above 40 °C, which is why the plant spends that stretch indoors under the air conditioning rather than on a windowsill: direct summer sun burns its leaves. Between a car and a front door, it should not sit in that heat for long either.
Indoors it wants daytime temperatures of 19 to 30 °C and 16 to 19 °C at night, a weekly watering with the saucer drained afterwards, bark as a growing medium and a clear pot so the roots stay visible.
Cacti and glass-cased succulents for a city with 55 mm of rain
Rain here totals around 55 mm a year, most of it falling between December and March, and succulents suit that because they come from places just as dry. A succulent can hold water equal to nine-tenths of its own weight, which lets it go far longer between waterings than a leafy plant could.
An open glass container suits a dry climate: the plant inside gets air rather than trapped humidity, and watering is a few pumps from a misting bottle rather than a soak. The dry, cool air an air conditioner produces indoors is close enough to what the plant is used to outdoors. A small rosette, a low cluster of fleshy leaves or a spotted succulent are usually sold among the cacti or set inside an open glass shape.
Plant delivery in Abu Dhabi for a colleague: an orchid beside chocolate
A box of sweets or chocolate is a safe gift for a colleague or a business partner in the UAE, where quality counts for more than the price on the box; alcohol is never the right addition, whatever the pairing. An orchid set beside chocolate keeps that logic going once the sweets are gone, since the plant carries on flowering for months after the box itself is empty.
Cocoa butter melts at 34 to 38 °C, and August here reaches 43 °C, so a gift like that is not left waiting on a doorstep in summer. The florist photographs the plant before the courier sets off, and most orders reach the recipient the same day they are placed; how soon is shown on the product card itself, with the full delivery terms on their own page. A hotel room, an office reception or an order placed from another country all work the same way, as the flowers section of the site explains.
Choosing between a potted gift and a glass one mostly comes down to how much attention someone wants to give it afterwards. For an orchid that will flower again, start with flowering plants; for a desk that gets only occasional misting, a florarium is the quieter choice.