Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON
Many flowers remind me of my father. This year makes it a quarter-century since he died, but I suspect that he and his brothers must have grown up in a home with beautiful garden beds.When my brother and I were children, our Dumayne Avenue home was bordered by a huge L-shaped garden that always had splashes of colour, with cannas, dahlias, sweetpeas and bougainvillea among the many varieties that bloomed in the Calcutta sun.
Every time I see dahlias and bougainvillea, I think of my Dad. I remember, too, how he used to be enchanted by his favourite variety of bougainvillea – the pink-and-white Mary Palmer.
During a long road trip from New Delhi to Dehra Dun in northern India in December 2007, we saw many bungalows with mature bougainvillea providing vivid colour against their walls.
While we were in Western Australia this month, I was (understandably) drawn to this beautiful variety in the back yard of a friend’s beachside Sorrento home.
The blooms were a perfect foil for the muted colours of the exterior walls and even though this wasn’t a Mary Palmer, it would have got my father’s seal of approval.
Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.
