Our beautiful frangipani tree has almost finished flowering. I miss the flowers when they are gone, but without their absence, I wouldn't have the joyous feeling of noticing them burst into bud and then watching for the first flowers to uncurl and show off their beauty.
Frangipanis are one of my favourite flowers. Particularly the white ones with the yellow centres. I love the glorious purity of the white, and the clarity and glow of the yellow.
Their fragrance....aaaah! There is no forgetting their sweet, exotic smell.
They are one of the things I love about summer.
Memories come floating back into my mind when the breeze carries their perfume through the air....memories of wearing them in our hair as kids, pretending we were beautiful Hawaiin hula dancers....memories of swimming in Mum's pool with two trees near the fence filling the air with their aroma while we flirted with our boyfriends....memories of them floating in the pool with us, when we swam at night, lit only by the full moon....
I loved their fragrance so much, that when DH and I got married, my Mum and Sister spent the morning placing wet cotton wool around the stems of 80 frangipanis, combined with a sprig of asparagus fern, then wrapping each one with a piece of foil, slipping a safety pin through them, misting them, then placing them in baskets, to be handed out at the church for everyone to wear.
I was married at the end of January, on an extremely hot day, and the fragrance that greeted me when I entered the church was absolutely divine!
Oh Oh Oh OOOOH! What a wonderful story... Frangipanis are the Best! Wish our tree had done better than half a dozen flowers this year :-(
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely idea - and what a special family to go to so much trouble for you, Lindi. We have about half a dozen frangipani trees in our garden and I just love their scent in summer. Like you, it reminds me of the past, in my case playing as a little girl in my grandmother's garden on Queensland's sunshine coast.
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