Club5050//Contest//Steem Plants Week 12 - Lovely In Red

Hello plant lovers. We welcome Week 12 of this fun contest, the Steem Plants Contest, hosted by @strawberrry. You can learn more about this. Just click on the link here. Read up and join us in the fun.

Last year I happened to pass by a neighbor's house. He had this plant growing just outside his gate with the most beautiful red bloom. Luckily, my neighbor was tending to something outside so I was able to talk to him. I commented on how lovely the flowers of the plant were. His response surprised me very much. He asked me if I wanted some. I said yes. So he took out a big knife and cut two stems from the plant and told me to just stick them into the ground or pot and water them regularly.

When I got home I planted both stems on a pot, watered them and waited. A few months later both plants began blooming. I transferred one of them in the ground beside our Temple Tree. The other one I left in the pot to see if I can bonsai it. This month, the plant beside the temple tree began to bloom and they are the brightest red colored plants in the garden.

This is the Hibiscus Double Red, a plant genus characterized by astonishing beautiful flowers. It is categorized under the Malvaceae family and native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Aside from the beautiful decorative bloom, Hibiscus flowers have numerous medicinal uses. Both flowers and leaves can cure cancer, high blood pressure, bacterial infection and many more.

In our country, the Philippines, this plant is known as gumamela. They also come in many different colors too and are usually planted for ornamental purposes more than its medicinal benefits.

This plant is quite a low maintenance plant and just as long as it is watered regularly they are okay. I will soon be harvesting some of the flowers to dry and make into tea. Time to test its medicinal uses and see if they work. I will probably make another post in the future to write all about it.

That's all for now. Wishing all the participants the best of luck in the contest. Please keep safe everyone and may peace be with you all always.

(All photos are mine.)