These are purple sandpaper flowers. My grandfather grew lots of them in Sg. Merah, Sibu for his wreath making, a hobby he loved to work on when he was older and retired from business.
It was a very hardy plant with lots of flowers and he cut them often . He would make wreaths for the church whenever there were funerals and never charged any one.
If I remember correctly he would make one on behalf of the church committee, one on behalf of the church pastor, Rev Ho Siew Liong and his wife and family and one from him to the bereaved family.
He grew alamanda, the yellow ones, white frangipani and the purple bouganvillea besides these purple sandpaper flowers.
He would make all three wreaths in the design he wanted and early in the morning, he would get Aunty Hiong to send them to the Kwong Ann Church. And I often wondered in those days why he would do that. Did Rev James Hoover inspire him to make wreaths for fellow church members?
This was all before Sibu had florists who sold very expensive floral arrangements and wreaths. He never grew orchids, although later Grandmother Siew grew some of the best orchids I have ever seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment