Wednesday, May 20, 2009

• • • Golden Shower!

Out of all the trees (around 11) that I have planted at my house in last 5 years, the two Cassia fistulas or Golden Shower Trees are by far my most favorite, (along with two trees of a certain kind of delonix regia) and I'm sure seeing the photographs , you'd now know why.


Commonly known as Amaltas, it is a medium sized tree, usually above 10 meters tall when fully grown. It has a bright yellow beautiful looking flower, blooming in late spring, usually early May, and in abundance. The whole tree is covered by the pleasant looking flowers, and it does extreme justice to its name, ' The Golden Shower Tree.'


Seeing the successful growth of the two golden shower trees in my court yard, I'm now thinking of adding at least a couple of more to the landscape, alongside my Gul-e-Nishtar, Gul Mohar and couple of other flower bearing trees. It's a pity that the flowers are only there for a couple of months.

I always dreamt of living in a house surrounded by flower bearing trees, and now I am almost living the part of it. In another 5 to 10 years, I am quite sure, that I'll be able to accomplish the dream, hoping that all the trees that I have planted would fully grow in this time.

My other family members, especially my mother insists on shady trees and I'm more into pretty looking flower bearing ones, so I try and find trees which meet both the criterion. But just for my mom's satisfaction, I have planted 3 shesham trees too, and I'm glad I did. Shesham is an excellent tree to sit under in hot sunny summers. Another 'safe' tree to sit under is Alstonia. I call it safe because it has been observed that birds usually do not sit on it. So it is virtually a 'dump free' zone.


I would suggest everyone, if they have any space, to plant a Golden Shower tree. It remains green the year round, and the only time when it shed leaves is when it is raining gold. It is a beautiful tree to have in your court yards.
We need 8 trees per person to compete with per-capita pollution, so go and plant if you want your generations to come live in a clean and healthy environment. All of us should make it a point to plant at least one tree every year, and watching those trees grow is a wonderful feeling. I can tell that by personal experience. So lets work together for a clean, green earth.


(All the picture used here are taken by me, and haven't been copied from other websites)

3 comments:

  1. Amazing, Siku..! I wish we did not have matchboxes to live in Bombay..! x_X
    I can imagine yo sitting under the shade of the Shesham tree on a hot afternoon.. I'll remember the Golden Shower tree. :)

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  2. That's one plus of living in a village.. ;)

    Next time you see a golden shower tree in a park in Bombay... think of my trees .. :P

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