08:20, 30/07/2023
This season, the crape myrtle trees are in full bloom. In the early morning mist, the crape myrtle branches unfurl, creating carpets of red flowers that brighten up a familiar corner of the street.
I remember about ten years ago, there was a craze for planting Barringtonia trees in my village. In the men's conversations, the Barringtonia tree was always mentioned most often. My father told me about the significance of the Barringtonia tree.
The Barringtonia tree is considered one of the four auspicious trees: banyan, fig, pine, and lucky. It symbolizes prosperity, wealth, good fortune, peace, and longevity for the homeowner. The vibrant red flowers of the Barringtonia tree represent joy, happiness, and success; its lifespan, reaching hundreds of years, symbolizes longevity; and its fruit, resembling sesame seeds and containing many seeds, also symbolizes blessings, prosperity, and a large family with many children and grandchildren.
The Barringtonia trees considered to have good feng shui are those with a beautiful shape, high age, dense foliage, and abundant, vibrant red flowers…
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| The season when crape myrtle trees bloom passes by very quickly. |
Perhaps that's why, back then, everyone wanted to have a crape myrtle tree in their garden. My family was no exception. My father found a small crape myrtle tree and planted it. I had never seen crape myrtle flowers before, but through my father's stories, I became even more curious about the beauty and meaning of this tree. My father chose to plant the small crape myrtle tree in the most beautiful corner of the yard. He meticulously cared for it, shaping it, pruning its branches... And I, because I wanted to admire the beauty of the crape myrtle flowers, was very diligent back then. I would just wait until it was time to water the tree, remove insects, and chat with the young leaves that were preparing to sprout. I discovered that the crape myrtle's leaf buds were also very beautiful. Five years later, the crape myrtle tree began to bloom for the first time.
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| Barringtonia trees bloom twice a year. |
I'm certain that crape myrtle flowers bloom at night. At night, their fragrance fills the courtyard and permeates the house. The tiny flowers, with their many delicate red tendrils, look like fireworks clustered together in long, drooping bunches. These clusters resemble strings of bright red decorative lights, strangely captivating. Before blooming, the buds hang down like a striking emerald green curtain. Once in bloom, the flowers don't linger on the vine for long, lasting only 7 to 9 hours. At dawn, under the morning sun, the crape myrtle blossoms release their fragrance once more, attracting bees seeking nectar, then gently drift and fall into the air, completing their life cycle.
The beauty of the crape myrtle tree is further enhanced when its blossoms fall, hundreds, even thousands, of tiny flowers intertwining on the ground to create vibrant red carpets. The width of the tree's canopy matches the width and density of the flower carpet. For crape myrtle lovers like my father and I, there's always a feeling of regret when we have to gather and discard the fallen blossoms. So we often choose to leave a section of the yard unswept, reserved for the crape myrtle blooming season. Only when the flowering season is over do my father and I gather all the fallen flowers and discard them, continuing to wait for the next season with a sense of longing and nostalgia.
Ten years have passed since I left my beloved home. Another season of crape myrtle blossoms has arrived, and the crape myrtle tree in front of my gate has burst into bloom. On the street, carpets of crape myrtle flowers paint the entire road red. I remember my father, and his words: "The life of a crape myrtle flower is like that of a person; it appears in the blink of an eye, and the flowering season passes very quickly. Yet, the crape myrtle has offered the world beautiful seasons of blossoms, leaving behind a lingering sense of regret…"
Thuy An
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