My "adopted" hibiscus shrub

While it is fairly established that it is possible to have a deep lasting relationship with your pet, up until now, I never felt that kind of bond with a plant... well yes I did learn in Science that "All plants are living things"... yes also that they grow well when you play music(soothing) to them... some have a soft corner for Beethoven and so on... but I personally never felt this bond... until I chanced upon a discarded hibiscus shrub around seven- ten months ago. it lay there, uprooted, with almost no leaves on it... my older one and I were in the "planting obsession" phase and while she has moved on... I am still in it... to get back to the story, we both pounced upon the poor plant and I proceeded to plant it eagerly.

I would keep looking at it everyday, almost willing it to sprout a new leaf for days on end.... my mom, like all wise people assured me it would and lo and behold, it sprang to life one day and from then on, there was no looking back :). It flourished into a healthy shrub and started flowering lovely orange flowers!! I was sooo thrilled!

Cut to the recent past.... the flooded days... yes I know we all want to "bury" that week, but bear with me just this once...
While everyone else in my complex looked woefully at their cars and bikes, I was the only (mad, according to the hubby) soul who spent every morning of those dreadful days looking wistfully at my submerged plants....almost all of them were submerged... excepting this brave hibiscus shrub, a part of her stood tall amidst all that water... the second day into my gazing at my plants like this made me suddenly notice that she was flowering even through all these floods!!! I was so amazed and yes obviously thrilled!!! The days went past and each morning, I would be welcomed with yet another flower..... at last when the floods receded and I could get to my plants once again.... trust me, this was the very first time I actually felt like giving a plant a tight hug.... she kept up my hope by flowering each and every day.... I felt as though this was her way of thanking me for keeping up her hope when she was bereft...our bond was sealed forever.

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