The bauhinia is Hong Kong’s ‘national flower’, appearing, for example, on the territory’s coins and official documents in a stylized image that functions well as a design but fails miserably to capture the spectacular reality of these stunningly beautiful flowers. Unlike the English rose, the Dutch tulip and the Welsh daffodil, which are ornamental garden flowers, or the Scottish thistle, which is a weed, the bauhinia is an ornamental tree. It is a tree that is planted widely in Hong Kong—there are several in the village where I live.
Unfortunately, these flowers are extremely fragile and are easily dislodged by heavy rain. We have had 36 hours of continuous rain here, and the bauhinias in my village have been almost completely denuded of their flowers, leaving a pink carpet that prompted me to rush back home for my camera before the over-zealous local street sweepers have cleared up the ‘mess’, which they do every year far too quickly for my liking. This is the first time I’ve beaten them to it.
You're right Dennis. I quite like the way the pink flowers have fallen on the ground, it's a shame they don't leave them there longer because it really does look very nice and it's not disturbing anyone or damaging anything.
ReplyDeleteIt looks even nicer when there have been parked cars covered in flowers instead of the traffic cones Rum. Believe it or not, though, some people here think it looks a mess!
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