The May Flower Power Explosion at my Sister’s Garden

Part of the flower explosion at my sister's garden.

Allow me to splurge in luxury and exaggeration in talking about my sister’s flower plants in her small front yard in Legaspi city. She has appointed enough elbow room and growth space- actually all of the space thereabout- for her source of surprise and delight. She spend good times meticulously taking care of her plants which include a small selection of orchids.

Looking down from the balcony of her house, the flower power of her plants make one’s day complete and actually gives a good jump start for the first hours of the waking mornings.

At the onset of the month of February, the promise of a healthy and abundant blooms come to fruition. It makes one to constantly visit each budding delicate branches and twigs. Daily. And when one is right in front of the plants, can’t help but stare for so long with all the questions of wonder and amazement brought about by a simple living plant in the almost summit of its existence- bearing flowers. Sometimes. you feel a certain rush inside, excitement, hope, wonder, and more, you can not stop the hands from taking a gentle tap or touch on the still young buds!

No wonder, even small, dainty white butterflies flutter and bees buzz around the area. They, too, are part of the expectant limited crowd and fans of the soon to come out blooms.

The May flower power explosion (again, he, he, he, allow me, please,) actually starts as the tropical summer starts in March, on to April and the waning days of May. Or until the showers come and wilt the petals soon enough.

Orchids, or simply flowers, are good appreciative gifts to loved ones, including our Dear Mothers. Go ahead, grab one from your garden.

The lone cacao tree by the fence, the lush banana plants and the growing lucban (pomelo) contribute shade and shelter to the flowering plants from the sun and damaging sudden gusts of wind. (Just crossed our fingers the current bad weather system enveloping some parts of the region make no harmful effects on the Bicolanos and properties. Too early to dampen the summer vacation!)

Here, my apologies I source a short info from Wikipedia about orchids:

Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the Orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. It is currently believed to be the largest family of flowering plants , with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species, found in 880 genera. The number of orchid species equals more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. It also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).

The family also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla plant), Orchis (type genus) and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars.

The complex mechanisms which orchids evolve to achieve cross-pollination were investigated by Charles Darwin and described in his 1862 book Fertilisation of Orchids.

This article and the previous post for all mothers were mild and mellow in preparation for some “hard” discussion- talk coming up. Please continue visiting our web pages and thanks. Again, Happy Mother’s Day! (https://cbanga360.net)


Photos by Bob Adupe

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