Lantana Camara

Lantana...sounds Spanish, doesnt it? I like it cos it makes me feel like dancing...swaying to the rhythms of the wind.
In some places, this flower is known as Ham & Eggs. Haha...for the life of me...I do not see any resemblance to that scrumptious breakfast. I call it my little pillows of miracles :) Just take a look at the tiny "pillows" and imagine...how each of them blooms into a beautiful flower.

Plant a little love and watch a miracle grow. (Anonymous)

Lantana symbolizes rigor; hardship and toughness.

This is a flower truly to be admired. Don't judge the book by its cover...or rather don't judge the plant by its flower! This plant with tiny fragile-looking flowers is one tough thing in my garden. Very familiar to the hardships of the earth; low maintenance, heat-tolerant, and it doesn't even need fertilizer! This is what takes my breath away.....just look at every little bloom within each cluster of flowers. I see a different shade of colour in every one of them. Don't you?


Just a thought...
Every time you face hardships in your life, think of the lantana! Life will always be unfair.... so, what are you going to do about it?

Life's not always fair; sometimes you can get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. (Cherralea Morgen)



I can't help but think about how lantanas actually resembles the severity of life. Life can be smooth-sailing at times, yet it can be harsh as well. Its especially when we have no power to prevent bad things from happening...like accidents. What we could only do is cope.

When I was young, about 8-9 years of age, I used to play with mum's cousin's kids (2 brothers). We had a huge swing on our front porch, and the boys and I used to climb on it and pretend that it was a bus. I would be the conductor and they would be the passengers as they loved hopping on and off while the "bus" was moving!! We would never get tired of playing with that swing and there were always laughter. The boys were good at telling jokes and I used to enjoy just listening to them. One day, mum had a phone call and I watched her expression turned grim in the midst of listening. Later on, she told me that the younger brother had drown. He was only 10 years old at that time. I didn't quite get it that he is gone forever and that he was never going to come over to our house to play with me ever again. Took me a while to finally comprehend that I had lost a friend. I had no power to change what had happened. I had lost a friend for life. About a week ago, mum and I were looking through some old photos and she saw a picture of me and the 2 boys at our swing. Mum asked, "Hey do you still remember them?" I took a look at the picture and immediately, all the memories came rushing back to me. The laughter. The silly games we played. After 30 years had passed, tears actually came to my eyes....

We do not remember days; we remember moments. (Cesare Pavese)