They are now quite pot bound and haven't bloomed in over a dozen years. I keep them at the tea shop, and they add lots of life and oxygen to the air. Customers always remark on how nice it smells and how clean and fresh the shop is. Live plants instead of tired old artificial ones will do that to a place.
I don't feed them because the greens grow so profusely that I'm always having to cut them back. I try to get new plants started but always fail. I'm happy I've been able to keep these old ones alive for so long. It's the last living thing from my mother, and it is kind of like having a bit of her life energy still with me.
Well, a few days ago, we noticed a flower bud on one of the plants! I was elated and hopeful that this time we'd actually get a bloom. They are double tropical hibiscus, so their blooms are quite flashy and spectacular. Yesterday when I came into the shop, the bud looked like it had tried to open a bit, but just wasn't going to make it.
It looked like it was drying out, and I thought I'd killed it by not watering enough.
But then,
miracle of miracles
when I came into the shop today...
Voila!
A great big frilly bloom!
Spectacular and Stunning!
And so, for at least a few days, the tea shop is graced with this beauty.
A sign of Spring and renewed hope that there will soon be relief from all this
cold and snow.
When it does finally fade away, I wonder if I can dry the petals
and make some hibiscus tea? That would be extraordinary!
