My favourite flowers

I'd like to share some of my favourite flowers, those that I grow at home.

I do not know all their names but seeing them bloom gives my spirits a lift. I don't have many cos I cannot manage on my own. Flowers need care and love.
Believe it or not, I do talk to my flowers and plants. Oh no, I'm not going bonkers!

It's just that they are so lovely in their own ways and I pay them compliments. Of late the Jasmines have been blooming but when the weather broke and the rain fell heavily, the flowers just withered, some while still buds. My jasmines are the multi-layer petals so they look like miniature roses. Their fragrance is very strong and can pervade the whole sitting room.


Cannas are very common and they multiply readily. They come in many colours but I'm partial to reds and pinks.




Roses are favourites with the fairer sex. Beaux give their ladies red roses to signify their love.Come Valentine's Day, roses cost a bomb. I have pink roses, red roses and pale pink tea roses. The pink roses have a fabulous scent, very different from the scent of the red roses.

The anti-cancer plant which can grow into a large bush has lovely pink clusters of flowers. There is another which has orange flowers. There is no scent but they are very beautiful. Their leaves are boiled and taken for their anti-cancer properties.


When the weather is very hot, the bougainvillea come out in full bloom. There are more flowers than leaves and this particular plant has only 2 branches but they are covered with flowers and I love looking at them through my kitchen window.


These coreopsis are my favourites. Because of the very hot weather, many of them dried up and died while I was away. So the flower beds which used to flower profusely are quite depleted and bare in many areas. I remember when I was in school, I used to pull off the petals one by one reciting "he loves me, he loves me not"! Such a silly thing to do, trying to find out if my boy friend loved me or not!


These flowers or "crab claws" hang down in a line and can be very pretty. Here they look rather small because of the extremely hot weather again and in fact some of the plants have died off too.


This gave me a very pleasant surprise. The plant commonly known as "mother-in-law's tongue" flowered!! This was the first time I saw so many stalks of flowers blooming, springing up from the inner part of the leaves.


The Ixora has come out in full force, turning the hedges into red spattered rows. They didn't flower as profusely before. It had to do with the heat. Just like the mango trees which are flowering abundantly and another plant which has long red leaves produced an unusual flower, the like of which I've never seen before.


There are more but I will stop here as it's very late now and I have an early morning call. No, it's not golf. I've to send my grandchildren to school and then off to do some work for the British Council. So goodnight.