Butterfly Tree

"...Edging the golf course of the club was a glorious sweep of glowing purple. Even before I was near enough to identify the trees, the rich, heady perfume which filled the air told me they were Bauhinias. The sight left me breathless and it was then I realised how difficult was the attempt I was making to describe in mere words the trees I know better how to paint..." (D. Cowen, "Flowering trees and shrubs of India")

I said I would never write about this again but here I am writing about it.

So, remember when I talked about that tree in the neighborhood Ham and I love, the one I took the sapling from and tried to grow for myself in a pot?  (If you don't remember click here and here.)

Well....

It has been growing....

and slowly and surely I moved up its pot size twice.

And it even started growing bark.


The end.


That would be the end of it if I planted it in the ground but I haven't done that yet. For a while now I didn't even know what it was!

But have no fear. Mr. Yardbird and I researched and researched and finally we found out... it is an....

Orchid Tree!.....or sometimes called a Butterfly Tree. Or in scientific words Bauhinia blakeana.

Which explains a whole lot.

If I'm boring you.....stop here.

I need this for my records. When I'm old and senile. When I can't remember what that cool  tree is growing in my yard. When I want my grandkids to be impressed by my weirdness...

I can pull up this blog or hopefully I'll have it all nice in a book and say yes, grandkids of mine this tree has history.

And they can nod their weary heads and act enthused.

Anyway, the Orchid tree.

From what I know, it originated in Hong Kong, but also grows in India and some subtropical areas. Some guy named Sir Henry Blake found the tree and named it "Butterfly" tree after his wife, who was an avid painter of butterflies, trees and plants. Apparently, she really loved butterflies (about as much as I do) and found them buzzing around this tree's fragrant flowers.

The leaves which are huge and remind me of elephant ears were referred to as "clever" leaves because students in Hong Kong were asked to use them as bookmarks when studying. Ham uses them as a fan for now ------>

Henry....painter.... lover of butterflies....the pea pods I found at Aunt Carrie's house, being clever?

Can there be so many things to connect me with this tree? I'm kidding about the being clever part.

But knowing the name and the history of it are only part of it. Somehow this tree ended up in my neighborhood and today I found out how.

More on that in the next post.