Whispers of a Blooming Heart

With the beautiful words of the incomparable Mr. Bond, I welcome everyone who has, intentionally or inadvertently, landed up on this page! My name is Nisha and I live in the beautiful state of Queensland, Australia. I can add a few more details about myself, but I will get to the only one that really counts: I am a hopeless flower lover. You can win any argument with me by gifting me a potted flowering plant at the right moment! One of my most sacred rituals is the planting of bulbs and sowing of seeds for a springtime floral bonanza. I am not overly ritualistic, but I religiously go on my yearly pilgrimage to a nearby hill station to take in the beauty of the spring blooms. ANY flower, big or small, wild or not, will have my complete attention as soon as it is in my visual range. I am all for flowers of any size, shape and color – for all of them have the power to fascinate, heal and uplift you.

Having said that, I must admit to having a soft corner for wildflowers. Nothing against the cultivated ones – I adore my roses, pansies, and anything else that blooms in my garden. However, I also relish the pure bliss of stepping off the bus in a strange, remote land and coming across wildflowers blooming by the roadside. That’s an experience I will never grow tired of; while everyone might be taking in the view of the mountains, you will find me intently checking out the roadside beauties. It is amazing to see how the presence of flowers can transform your experience of a place. Suddenly, the strange, alien land feels more inviting, and the tiredness of the trip is replaced by the excitement of adventures to come.

I remember a particular incident when I chanced upon a cannonball tree in full bloom. It stood opposite the bus stop I was waiting at, and I ended up wishing for the bus to arrive late – such was the beauty of the flower-laden tree. Since this incident happened long before the Google era, I struggled to find out the name of the exquisite beauty that had stood in front of me that day. Even though I eventually did, the incident made me realize that I was (un)blissfully unaware of the floral richness of our natural world.

That incident marked the beginning of my quest to know more about wildflowers blooming in forests, meadows and bushlands around the world. Along the way, I have discovered flowers prettier and smarter than those in my wildest dreams. The majestic Red Tajinaste (Echium wildpretii), aptly called ‘Tower of Jewels’, growing on the volcanic rocks around Mt Teide in Spain’s Canary Islands. The elusive wreath flower (Lechenaultia macrantha) of Western Australia, a major draw for tourists who travel great distances to see, not surprisingly, a wreath-shaped flower that grows nowhere else in the world. The bacon-and-egg plant (Eutaxia obovate) and the lipstick plant (Aeschynanthus), both of which get their names from their trademark flowers. The native plants which bloom right after bushfires (Actinotus forsythia), or thrive after flooding (lesser joyweed or Alternanthera denticulata). The flowering plant (Cyanea heluensis) so rare that only one has ever been found in the wilderness of its home, the Maui island in Hawaii (a fun fact – its gently curved, long white flowers are said to resemble uncooked French fries).

I could go on and on about this; such is the variety in the wildflower repertoire of our planet. Given its breadth and depth, the only way to comprehensively learn about wildflowers is to explore a unique theme each week. I plan to write about wildflowers, adhering to a particular theme every week, with no limits on how crazy the theme can be! We could be talking about wildflowers from Western Australia, the Himalayas or the Amazon rain forests. Or we could explore the native flowers which signal the arrival of monsoon in India, spring in Arctic and autumn in Australia. We could also have a crazy week learning about wildflowers which serve alcohol, mimic aphids, and emit the smell of half-eaten ants or rotten flesh to attract pollinators!

Now that you know what the journey is about, I invite you to come along with me. Let us explore one tiny corner of the world each week through its wildflowers. Hopefully, the teeny bits of knowledge that we gather along the way will enable us to get off the bus one day in a strange, remote land, look at a wildflower blooming by the roadside and say, “Hey, I know you from somewhere, don’t I?!”

Let us celebrate the start of our journey into the world of wildflowers by binging on the stories of native flowers for 4 weeks. We will journey, albeit virtually, through the Atacama desert, the Himalayas, Western Australia and the Arctic region in search of stories that they tell through their wildflowers.

Let the journey begin!