The flowering tree which Pensri is most proud of in our garden in Phana is the 'pudtan'. She originally brought three small saplings from Loei 15 years ago. Since then she has taken numerous cuttings and at present there are about twelve specimens in various parts of the garden. It isn't an easy tree to grow and needs a lot of care and attention because it is very prone to aphid attacks, especially in the dry season. Several people have asked her for cuttings but no-one has succeeded in nurturing them for long.
The tree itself is not impresive at all, as you can see in the picture below. The main stem (it can hardly be called a trunk) can grow quite tall (about 3 metres is our tallest) but only produces leaves near the top. But if the tree doesn't impress, the flowers are something else. A classic Thai song says there are no flowers that can compare with it.
The flowers, usually one or two at a time on each tree, open early in the morning. They open very quickly, and are a brilliant white. This is at 10.30am and it has been in bloom for two or three hours:
An hour later a hint of pink appears:
By 1pm it is positively blushing:
And by 4.30pm it is really quite deep pink but still in full bloom:
5.30pm: darker, and beginning to close in on itself:
By the next morning (7.15am) it has closed up but new buds are getting ready to have their day:
On another tree, at about 7am you can see how shrunken the red flower has become, but also what a deep, blood red it is. But it is all starting again and tomorrow that will be today's white flower.
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