Friday, June 4, 2010

Catharanthus roseus/ Vinca rosea

There are the flowering plants that require a lot of tender loving care - you need to water then just so, you need to pluck dead-heads, you need to prune the plants, you need to feed them the right mix of manure, and you need to see they do not get infected by the various pests waiting to prey on them. If you do all of that, they occasionally reward you with a flower or two. My plumerias fall firmly into that category - I have one that has flowered only once in the three years it has been with me, and another that has never flowered. I love them, and tend to them, and hope that they will reward me with flowers some day.

There are those flowering plants, and then there is the periwinkle. I never even acquired the periwinkle- it must have been brought to my fifth floor apartment in the belly of a crow or by the wind. It took root in a pot I could barely reach, and I knew about it only after it gave out the first flowers.



In the years it has been with me, it has known only neglect, but it doesn't seem to know or care that the water I give it is given with sheer indifference. It takes what it gets, and it thrives. Never has a day gone when there hasn't been at least one periwinkle coloured flower on the plant, and when I last checked, there were a whole bunch of bushy shoots springing up all around it.
Unless something drastic happens, I can look forward to many months or years of flowers from the plant- not for nothing is it called 'sadabahar' in Hindi - 'always flowering'.

And isn't the same true for everything else- there are people and thing that need a lot of care, and there are people and thing which thrive in any environment. One is cherished. Unfortunately, the other is almost taken for granted.

13 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

A lovely post about a lovely plant, it is very pretty and would grace any home.

Enjoy your day.

Yvonne.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Flowers and plants that thrive on neglect are the best kind! I've never seen a periwinkle before. I think they're too tropical for our climate here in Canada.

Unknown said...

The flowers are gorgeous. I agree that there are so many things out there that need our help. Talking to plants help. I think talking to others in need help too.

CD

Jan Morrison said...

Hey Natasha, looks like you already did the Friday Challenge!
gorgeous shots and a lovely plant...

Sueann said...

Wonderful post and all so true!! Love the plants!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Good thing I know how to water people because I suck at watering plants.

Doli said...

when I read your first para (without noticing you were talking about plumerias) I thought periwinkle grew so easily in my home.. then I later realised that you were talking about periwinkle later on :) how true what you said about vinca :) it's cute and I learnt in school that some of the flower is used in cancer cure research

Mason Canyon said...

The photos are beautiful and your message is very true.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Hart Johnson said...

I love volunteers. I don't have the attention span to nurture needy plants. ODDLY, in my life I seem to have ONLY needy people... maybe that is where the balance falls. I put in my nurturing on the human front...

Talli Roland said...

Gorgeous flowers! I love how you tie them into people at the end of the post. So true.

Ann said...

Beautiful flowers. Loved the post and its comparisons.

Natasha said...

@ Yvonne - it is pretty, isn't it?

@ Debra - they are tropical plants, and they thrive on neglect.

@ Clarissa - I know most of my plants pretty well as individuals, but sometimes, the burden of having so many people dependent on you gets to be too much.

@ Jan - now that you mention it, YES!

@ SueAnn - that plant is a survivor.

@ Alex - if you knew how much I hate it sometimes!

@ Doli - it must have been confusing! Sorry.
I'd heard something like that about vinca too. If both of us have heard the same thing, maybe it is true.

@ Mason - thank you.

@ Hart - I don't like needy plants either. Difficult ones, yes, but not needy ones. And I end up surrounded by people who need me more than I need them too. Is that another TT thing?

@ Talli - thank you.

@ Ann - thank you.

Hi.. I am Kaivi.. said...

Hey Rayna...

Was searching for some content over the net on "Sadasuhagan" and landed on your blog. Liked your short crisp writing style with a beautiful blog dedicated to "Periwinkle". I am also in love with this plant.

Keep posting ..

Kaivi

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