This beautiful purple flowering bush in our front yard is rather exotic. Who would guess? It’s not native to our region, and it’s not in exactly the right spot for optimal growth, but it seems quite happy. The color of the flower is an absolutely luscious, deep, royal purple, and it’s not a tiny bloom, either. It’s probably at least 3 inches across. It does look a bit tropical, and it doesn’t act exactly like a tree, that’s why it’s called a bush. Something about it reminds me of canna flowers, which are also tropical. There's lots more interesting info about the Glory Bush in the video!
Bottom line, though. How did it get here? I don’t mean who planted it here. That I know. I mean, how did a plant that is not native to our region travel here to reside in my garden. It must have been a long chain of events for it to finally get here. Who propagated it in Mexico, or Brazil, or Australia? What nursery did they sell it to? How did it travel to get to Southern California? And how does it feel to be a stranger in a strange land?
I guess we all feel that way at some time in our lives. We travel a long way to arrive at a place where it may not feel like home.
If we’re lucky, we adapt, but retain our essential characteristics, our cultural traditions, our native language, our purple flowers.
May we all land in fertile soil, where the gardeners are attentive, the climate to our liking, in a place where we thrive.