by Telly G. Ocampo
The Flowers of May
When I was finally settled in Taguihon with a wider space for a garden, I
saw to it that I had to plant kalachuchis with the Flores de Mayo in mind. I
have 4 varieties given by Lando, my friend from Cebu. These varieties
include the kinds of kalachuchi with small petals in red, pure yellow, white
with yellow in the middle and pure white. I still have that kalachuchi with
wide petals as flowers and I still have to transfer some coming from my
mother’s garden.
They are all in bloom now waiting to be plucked from their branches. This
time, there is no need to struggle in picking the flowers since the main
stalks are still young and low growing compared to the trees we had to
climb during our time.
I have thought of the adelfas, too. One time, I chanced upon beautiful
adelfas fronting a house in Dauis near the small bridge after the big Borja
bridge. Oi nawala na man sa akong pagbalik karong bag-o pa lang.
These adelfas grew as tall hedges of the house near that small bridge I
have just mentioned. There were two full grown adeldfa trees with one in
support of the other. One had flowers that looked like a rosette and almost
fuchsia in color. The flowers of the other tree were colored pale pink.
Miingon ko nawala na ang mga adelfa kay sa dihang miadto ko sa
Dauis karong Semana Santa nga milabay, miduaw gyud ko sa
nahimutangan sa mga adelfa. They are all gone. I really felt sad. But
Lando is back. He gave me one pot of an adelfa plant. It is still very young
and I am giving my oleander extra care. Yes, I learned that adelfa is called
oleander.
There is another flower variety that is slowly vanishing. It is called the
melendres. Mao diay na siya ang gitawag ug crepe myrtle. I hope I can
have them in my garden, too. Roger, my late husband, has a cousin named
Lel, who lives near our house. Lel has 3 kinds of crepe myrtle that she
brought from Thailand. These are colored pink, fuchsia and white. It’s a
runner, and I still have to wait until such time that there are sprouts.
Now I know why there are only a few young girls attending the Flores de
Mayo. It is because they are still attending classes in school right now. And
even if the Flores de Mayo activities in our town start at 5:30 p.m., still the
little girls wouldn’t have the time to come to church to attend the activities
since they still have to do their homework.
I pray the school calendar will go back to its normal schedule and start
classes in June and culminate them in March. This way, the young girls can
enjoy the Flowers of May.
Kalachuchi
Melendres
Adelfa
Oleandar