Monday, February 22, 2010

A Flower of Allure

The Night Blooming Tropical Water Lily, Kumuda, was considered to be the epitome of mystery , romance and passion by the ancient Indian poets. Many poems in Sanskrit allude to its beauty.

Unlike the Lotus, which is blooms during the day, this water lily blooms in the night adding to its allure. There are the more prosaic day blooming lilies too, but the night bloomers have had reams of poetry written on them.
My pale pink night blooming water lily has just started blooming , after I followed the advice of my friend Helen . Thank you, Islandgal!


This day blooming water lily is from a neighbour's garden. This flower closes at sunset and so did not hold any allure for the poets of old!.



8 comments:

  1. The delicate colours of that lily are just enchanting - I can see the allure too!
    They look quite big, are they bigger than a lotus?

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  2. Hello there, gardenfriend!

    I found your blog today, and was curious to see your garden:-) And lovely it was!

    So very unlike my own here in Sweden, Europe. But, maybe you would think my garden is a bit exotic through your eyes:-)

    I also looked inte you other blog, and smiled tomyself when I saw wellknown annuals here being Indian flowers...

    Have a great day,
    cheers from Hillevissan, gardendesigner

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  3. Thank you Lotusleaf! I was happy to help (mind you I love to give advice) LOL. That last water lily the deep pink /magenta is a night blooming lily here, it opens around 8/9.00 pm at night and closes around 11.00 am the next day. Now that is unusual for this lily to bloom in the day. You will also notice that the night blooming water lily leaves have a more of a defined serrated edge unlike the day bloomers.

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  4. What a pretty one! I've looked at those here, but since they are tropical they aren't hardy here and are quite expensive. Your day bloomer is really nice too, they both look so different from the type that are in my pond.

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  5. So pretty...thanks for sharing;-) I used to have a pond but never was able to get water lilies to bloom in it...not enough sun!

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  6. Floridagirl: Welcome and thanks.
    Gippslandgardener: Hi! The colour is a very pale pink, and looks beautiful in the night.No, it is smaller than a lotus.
    Tradgardsmakaren: Welcome to my tropical garden. Hope you will visit again.
    Helen: thanks again. Have a nice day.
    Catherine: I don't think this type of lily would survive your winters:-(
    Jan: I too had the same problem till I shifted my container to a sunnier place.

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