Flowers in My Neighborhood 2

Spring has Sprung !

Spring has sprung, at least in subtropical regions like Hong Kong.

There is an abundance of this flower blooming, signifying that Spring has finally arrived.

This is a flower which is quite unique in Hong Kong. It is known as the Hong Kong Orchid Tree or Bauhinia blakeana . So special that this flower is adopted as a logo on the regional flag and emblem of the HK Government .

This beautiful flower was found by a father of the French Mission in HK in 1880. The flower was then cultivated by twig planting. Research has found that this tree is in fact a cross between Bauhinia purpurea and Bauhinia variegata by artificial cultivation and cannot yield seeds or propagate naturally.

The related species Bauhinia variegata is also in full bloom with their light pink and white flowers. The picture below shows a tree with light pink flowers on the left and an adjacent tree with white flowers on the right.

If Spring has arrived in the subtropics, it won’t be too far behind in the rest of the Northern hemisphere!