Friday, April 6, 2012

Seeing Pink: Cherry Blossoms (Philippine version?)

“I wonder how , I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree”
- Fool’s Garden
A beautiful sight greeted us at the start of the week. And it is not a yellow lemon-tree but a pinky-cherry tree (well, almost). The trees behind our staff dorm rooms turned all pink with all of its leaves gone and replaced by small lovely blooms.


philippine cherry blossom like tree
philippine cherry blossom tree, pink flowerssakura, philippine cherry blossom, samar

I first saw this while taking a bath last Monday. A branch of flowers can be seen through the bathroom window and at that time only a few flowers were yet in bloom. As the week progresses so did the profuse blooming of the trees.

philippine cherry blossom, sakura, flower, samar

They look really pretty. Almost like a huge cotton candy amidst all the greenery. The branches have clumps of small 5-petal pink flowers with yellow centers.
I look forward to seeing them outside our window every morning when I wake up.

philippine cherry blossom-like tree, sakura, samar
These were taken right under the canopy of flowers. There are so many flowers that it is actually hard to take pictures because there are also lots of bees. Smile
philippine cherry blossom-like tree

It is weird though that none of the locals ever noticed this tree blossoming before. Also, they do not know what’s it called and if someone planted it there or Mother Nature planted it herself.
We have foresters in the company, however, this is also the first time that they saw a tree like this. I even asked them to figure out how this tree can be propagated or grown, if we can get a seedling of it or if we can grow it by cutting. I wanted to plant a tree like this for my backyard. Imagine, resting under the shade of pink flowers, oh so relaxing and pretty!
But we are not successful. It appears that the tree does not drop any seeds since no small plant is near the main tree.
Also, I tried to google for Philippine cherry blossoms or flowering trees in the Philippines or trees that shed leaves then blooms with small pink flowers but I did not find anything similar. I only found the Palawan Cherry but in the pictures, the flowers look white and the leaves are not the same. Also, one of our foresters used to work in Palawan and she said that this tree is different from the Palawan Cherry. Sigh.

philippine cherry blossom-like tree

We can’t figure out how we can obtain seedlings of the tree so we were left to admire the flowers while they last while spending all day not doing anything for the remaining days of Holy week.
philippine cherry blossom-like tree

Beautiful right? I guess they bloom only once a year because I haven’t noticed it blooming in the last months I was here. Maybe the start of the summer months.
Hey, if you’re an expert on Philippine trees or if you’ve come across this tree and know its name and how I can grow it, can you please message me or leave a comment? Will greatly appreciate it.
That’s it. These little flowers inspired me this week. Hope you’re inspired as well by the little things that are beautiful around you.

Love,

bargainista_logo