Red Boogie

Bougainvillea 1

The Debut of Miss B. Villea

For years she waited in the wings

Till finally one day she sings!

“We all had wondered where you were?”

Her radiant cousin asked of her.

“Eugenia overshadowed me,”

She said, “As you can plainly see.

My journey only first begun

The moment I could reach the sun!”

 

 

Bougainvillea 2

Many years ago I bought two bougainvillea bushes. The larger, more expensive one, was pink; the smaller, cheaper one, was red.

This is the red one; though, disappointingly, it often looks quite pink, especially as the petals age.

The pink bush started producing flowers almost immediately. However, the red one did not show any colour, year after year; till a few years ago, when, if I was very lucky, I might see one or two red petals.

Bougainvillea 3

This year, however, the bush has put out many red petals.

I guess heavily pruning all my trees last winter, allowing  more sunlight to filter through, and the plant growing large enough, finally made all the difference.

Still, the red bougainvillea cannot hold a candle to the pink bush, which grows so vigorously I have been hacking it back by the metre.

 

post script: Yes, yes; for the purists out there, I do know that the petals of the bougainvillea are actually bracts, and the flowers are the tiny white things in the centre, (not seen here). But to be honest, I am never going to talk about my bougainvillea, and oh look at the pretty, coloured bracts!

post post script: My poem is from November 2014, when the red bush first displayed a few blooms.