RESULTS OF PATIENCE
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
11/V/2024
Gardening enthusiasts sometimes have to wait long periods to see results in the form of blooms.
Plants can test your patience to the limits. They can go to the extent of playing dead, giving heart attacks. Sometimes, they lie dormant, skipping consecutive flowering seasons.
About two years back we decided to diversify our garden and usher in ‘Water Liles’ and succeeded in growing them.
Our humble beginnings began with planting ‘rhizomes’ in discarded ‘baby bath tubs’. Then we tried growing them in a ‘Chata’, (shallow earthen vessel in which curds are set). We ran out of containers so grew them in discarded five litre Bisleri water bottles and they flourished.
We had no idea of which season to plant them. We hardly knew how to take care for them. After almost a year, they started showing signs of deterioration. Their glossy, healthy and shiny leaves started to diminish in size. One of them even perished. How could we let it go!
A couple of them flowered, which took our excitement to a zenith. Such beautiful flowers were rare to see in the desert. Out of five, two bloomed, two didn’t and one perished. There was something that we were not doing right, Losing a plant was not an option.
The first ‘revelation’ was exposure to sunlight. After some research we found that they needed about six to eight hours of direct sunlight. We had kept them in shade fearing the wrath of the desert sun. It was time to shift gears. From the ground floor they were shifted to the rooftop with all the sunlight that was required available to them.
The containers were small. Their leaves started overgrowing the ledges and started falling over and drying out. Thus, they were immersed in a bathtub which we had placed on the roof for fish. Still, flowers did not bloom.
Some more research revealed that in one year a water lily plant gets root bound, especially if it is grown in a small container. Just the top surface of the pot has mud, the rest all is consumed by the plant. It needs fresh mud & manure. The roots need thinning for better growth. For a novice, it was a tedious process but things went well.
Feb-March is the right time to do all this. The next manuring would now be in the rainy season. We also make packets with old newspapers, fill them with cow dung manure or leaf compost and shove them deep in between the roots for the plant to draw nutrition. Slowly the paper also turns into manure.
Blooms started to appear. The centre of the plant from where leaves emerge, one can see a small pointed conical bud appearing. Once the buds emerge out of water like the nose of a rocket pointing towards the sky, rest assured it will bloom.
If one goes into the variety and colours of water lilies, they are countless. Some grow from tubers, some from rhizomes, some from bulbous nodes. Some are called tropical and some are hardy, some give small blooms and some giant-sized ones, some are bi-coloured and some single & some are fragrant too.
What we did not know was that some are ‘night bloomers’ also. There was this lily which appeared to have died. It used to have shiny and big maroon leaves which was a hint for the flower being red. It was after two years that we saw a bud emerging. The rhizome was not thrown but left in the pot and it rejuvenated on its own. We gave a sigh of relief.
Its flower would look like a bud all day. One cannot keep going to the roof to check if it had bloomed or not, especially in this heat. Early in the morning before sunrise, “Nymphaea Red Flare” was in full bloom. It is a night bloomer. As the sun comes up the petals feel shy and close.
Water Lilies symbolize a new spirit, a new wish, of delight and happiness. The word ‘nymphae’ comes from the Greek word numphé, meaning nymph, a fairy, or a goblin, which takes its name from the classical myth that attributes the birth of a flower to a nymph who was dying of love for Hercules. In fact, it is also a scientific term for a water lily.
Some civilisations deemed water lilies as sacred flowers. Unlike today, when they are considered ornamental plants. Regardless, the Nymphaea lilies in Mexico are a symbol of purity, fertility, celebration, hope, and peace.
Water Lily and Lotus are two different types of water plants mind you.
The wait was killing but the results were so heartwarming. Patience has paid. Would anyone like to grow these water lilies? I wonder!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© ® NOEL ELLIS
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