The Story of Cuphea Purple in My Childhood

 

Ichi's Garden: Cuphea Purple - Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti

Have you ever heard Cuphea Purple flower? Or probably you know about it? For me, the Cuphea flower is not only just a plant but also has a story during my childhood life. It was a great and amazing moment and stay in my mind until today. 

I bought Cuphea Purple about 2 weeks ago where I went grocery shopping. The price is cheaper only $3 for one small pot of Cuphea Purple. Therefore I did not hesitate to pick it up and brought it home as my new member family in my "garden." After moving it to a bigger pot and place it in the right spot, my Cuphea grows well in health condition. I am delighted since it brings back my childhood memorable story!

It was one of my best friends who introduced me to the Cuphea Purple plant. I know her since kindergarten school and we had been becoming close friends since then. We explored our neighborhood every day with others to find a new flower, plant, or anything that was more interesting than playing with toys or dolls. We were not keen on those city's children's things as my friends and I were excited to ride our bikes and did adventure. It was the time when we were in primary school.

My friends and I had a hobby that none of villager children aren't interested in today. Besides finding a new plant and flower in our neighborhood, we collected and planted them in our yards at home. If one of us found a new one, immediately informed each other and shared what we found. Hence, we had numerous flowers collection and we got all of those without spent a single cent of money which meant free! How? Well, when we identified an interesting flower in one of the households, we just asked the house owner nicely and they gave us permission to pick in order to propagate it by ourselves. Sometimes when I went to my classmate's house, I did ask them to pluck one or some of their flowers and brought them home and propagated them. Yes, I had 2 distinct friends, one was friends from around my father's house, while another was friends from my school where mostly came from another district. These two groups of friends did not get along with each other. The reason was simply that both of those groups had different interests. I reckon I was blending in more than two groups. For this reason, I was able to collect many varieties of flowers effortlessly. 

Someday, one of my friends told me that she planted a plant that had a tiny flower. She showed me at her yards and I was amazed about what I saw. It was clear, she created her name on the ground by planting those tiny plants. "Isn't that great?!", she said. "amazing.", I replied. After saw such a creative idea, another friend and I were copied her bright project. Yes, we called it a project where we grew the Cuphea Purple in our garden. However, I was the one who was not able to create my name on the ground. The reason was that my father's garden had already been crowded with flowers. It needed some space, if I pulled the original flower from the garden landscape, my father would furious. Yes, I was allowed to plant flowers and plants (whatever I like) as long as did not break the original garden landscape; that was my father's rule and I had to comply with it. So, I planted my Cuphea Purple on the top left corner of my father's front yards and grew some others on the edge of the terrace house. 

Something that was intriguing about our journey to grow Cuphea Purple was that my friends and I did not know its name! That's true! Common flowers such as Rose, Jasmine, Hibiscus, Allamanda, Gardenia, we all knew as it had been taught in the class. Unfortunately, we did not have the ability to identify many species of flowers and plants around our neighborhood. It was sad, but we could not do anything about it since we could not barely buy books. How about the library? Our village did not have a library. School's library? Our school's library did not have those particular books collections. Internet? Well, dream of it!😆😅

Years passed, nowadays, I am easy to find this tiny purple flower in the flowers/ garden shop nearby at a cheaper price. Moreover, I can identify it! this is my progress after took years!😂 Another good thing is that it brings back my memorable moment with my friends in the village! On top of that, what I had done in the past when I was a child is the core of how I can become like I am today. And I am glad had many friends in the village who encouraged me to sharpen my knowledge and did something to preserve our nature.

The story of Cuphea Purple in my childhood life was unforgettable. It brought a friendship, learned nature, and how to take care of our environment into a better one. As far as I remember, many villagers adored our act because my friends and I created the village more lively. What we did was more educational rather than damaged the village's reputation. Therefore, it is a great story that I want to treasure.🤗

Note:

• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Photographed by Acik Mardhiyanti
• Do not copy this article without permission
• Do not reuse this photograph anywhere else without permission