The Dead and the Living – J.K. Leahy Photography

The Hibiscus is one of my favourite tropical flowers. I enjoy looking at their delicate silky petals which open graciously at day time and close tightly at night. The flowers remind me of women and especially my mother, with a strong confident character, that others often easily bruise without being aware. And when she (my mother) has closed herself, she is closed.

In the Pacific Islands, we love wearing the hibiscus for its beauty and many assorted colours. It’s bark is used as cloth (similar to mulberry bark Tapa is made from), and the flowers of the hibiscus can be eaten. The flower is slightly acidic and is made into tangy sweet jelly. Rosella jam is made from a type of hibiscus. Here is a recipe I found on Food.com.

I have two types of red hibiscus in my garden, one I have shown here before. Butterflies also love sleeping under the leaves. The same red hibiscus is positioned in the front of our house and after a recent dry spell that was softened by torrential rains – the one crazy weather after another bought and abundance of flowers. I ran down about 6pm two days ago and all the petals were closed. I forgot the flowers did that.

Here are some pictures of the flower, photographed (yesterday) wherever they had fallen, except for the ones I arranged in the group. I also photographed the flowers on our driveway, where car tyres had run over the dead flowers. I felt like making some art with the fallen flowers, so I hope you like them. This week, I will also post pictures of my new star of Christmas.