We derive a great deal of pleasure in
watching our kids grow. The Wandering
Mind has discovered a sculpture at Badami depicting the four stages of
childhood – first when the child is sleeping all the time, then, he begins
crawling, then he stands, and finally, he does all sorts of gymnastics!. A
similar feeling is also associated with our pets. The plants in our gardens are
no exception.
Some six years back I brought few
plants of Heliconia Rostrata (Lobster Claw) as they were not obtainable at this
place. After two years they started flowering and I was thrilled to see them
grow. In the recent years because of over growth of a Shivali/Night Jasmine tree
I had to remove all other smaller plants beneath and transplant them in earthen
pots. I specially bought a wider cement pot (24”) for planting Heliconias. They
are there and new shoots are coming up but they refused to bear flowers during
the last few years.
For the five years the monsoon was
erratic and the rains were inadequate. Fortunately this year it was not so. We
had very good rains and my Heliconias probably sensed this and happily started
bearing flowers.
I tried to capture their stage wise
growth and they are here:
This last one seems to be the end of it.