Last year at this time, Andy received a beautiful birthday gift from our friend Jon. It was a very large and lusciously swirly-blue glazed planter. It was calling out for a large flowering bush but it was too early for such a plant, so the pot lingered empty for a couple of months on our back porch.
When it became warm enough to see bushes in bloom, off we went to shop for the perfect specimen for the pot. And the perfect plant, we did find! A lovely bloomin’ yellow rose of Sharon was waiting for us at the store. Well, actually it was three plants intertwined together. Two of the plants were single blossoms and one a double. So I guess you might say it was a triple ☺. It certainly was a home run for us and it was magnificent when planted in the rich blue pot.
This year, I decided that it was already large enough to warrant separating into the three plants. So this past weekend, I removed the entire now-dormant plant from the pot, separated it into three and placed one back into the pot and the other two into spots in my flower garden. I have no idea which location got the double or the single, but I will find out this summer when it blooms!
Hibiscus means delicate beauty, sweet disposition and consumed by love. Don’t you just love the language of flowers?
Hibiscus on the Lake
By Chavali Bangaramma
Translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao
The plant saw the beauty of water,
the flowering plant with bright red flowers.
She told me all about water.
Bending over the water to put on her bottu,
she saw the beauty of water.
I watched the loveliness,
until I fainted.
Snakes like trees ran through the lake.
The plant saw the beauty of water,
the flowering plant with bright red flowers.
The sky saw it all.
It trembled in fear
and fell down on the banks.
Even the sun was scared to look
from the top of the tree.
The plant saw the beauty of water,
the flowering plant with bright red flowers.
She spread out her hair.
Her bottu fell off.
The banks shed tears
and the shore was shaken.
The plant with bright red flowers,
bending, still bending
told me of the beauty of water.
The hibiscus talked to me.
XOXO Rachel
Wondrance 