Desert Rose

 

The desert rose has bloomed in green places,

in coordinates that it may not choose –

in the narrowest of urban spaces,

under heavy skies and a light too diffuse,

 

in soils that are clogged with too much water,

in planters meant for different sets of roots,

in shadowed courtyards, against its own nature –

in circumstances that don’t always suit.

 

It doesn’t bloom prolific but the flowers

bloom a stubborn red as the shadows deepen,

as taller and higher rise the towers,

as the light’s withdrawn they get deeper even.

 

It doesn’t quite meet the trending standards,

but still blooms quietly in a hostile earth.

~~~

I wanted to write something ebullient - festive and season appropriate for this post, but that didn't happen for reasons various. Story of my life. Meanwhile, this plant at the back of our house, I've been fretting about it for ages because it looked peaky and wasn't producing buds - it bloomed suddenly. Red and green. As appropriate as it gets.

I first came across the Adenium, or Desert Rose as it is commonly known, in the Sahel in West Africa, where it originates. My mother's gardener Matthias had, after due consultations and round table conferences, lined the back and sides of the compound with these plants in Maiduguri. I spent a whole chunk of my afternoons out in their company, the flowers were a different colour, light pink rather than red, but I'd know the species anywhere. 

Never saw them in India during childhood home leaves - east was east and west was west then, desert was desert and green was green and no one probably attempted growing exotic foreign plants in gardens over here. India anyways has a huge heap of native flowering plants, my folks were content with the local varieties I guess. Things have changed now, I've spotted quite a few desert rose specimens in our neighbourhood. 

Kolkata is quite the opposite of a desert, you turn your back for a minute and there's a banyan or fig sprouting in a crack on the windowsill of your building. The northern Sahel has an average annual rainfall of 200 mm. Kolkata on the other hand might get 250 mm in 24 hours during peak monsoon season. And this year has been exceptionally wet. Therefore, growing a desert plant here is a serious undertaking! :) Not all plants need great gobs of fertile soil and pouring rain to thrive. 

The one who took this enterprise up in the back was my jethani, she was a keen gardener. She passed away untimely in 2023. Jethani is untranslatable in English, the western society is not so specific about extended family relationships. She was my husband's elder brother's wife, what would you call her? Sister-in-law doesn't really mean the same thing, does it? Some Indians translate jethani as 'co-sister.' Even then it falls a little short, because the 'elder' part is built into the word jethani.

Anyway, I digress. She planted several perennials, some foliage, some flowering, both local varieties and a few foreign ones. Among them this desert rose. I think of her every time I see her pot plants - they are a comfort. I'm glad the desert rose is blooming.  

Happies and merries to you. Wishing you and yours all the joys of the season and a happy New Year 2026. May your desert roses bloom under every sky and soil that comes your way.