It's funny how every so often I come here to talk about a new plant in my pots. The thing is, when I plant a seed, nothing grows, but if I leave the pots completely empty (with just soil), it seems like new life magically starts to grow—and it's always a different plant. I've lost count of how many plants I've had; the last one I remember was the blackberry plant, which I pulled out completely because I didn't want it.
But this past week I saw a tall plant that looked very different from any I've seen before. Although it caught my attention, I didn't think much of it because, as I mentioned, it's almost routine for new plants to pop up all the time. But today, when I went out to water my plants, I was surprised to see—out of nowhere—that that plant had a beautiful flower.
I'm so excited to have a flower on my windowsill—if it were up to me, I'd have lots of flowers—but I don't know how to make that happen, and seeing one grow without any effort on my part was really strange but exciting. This flower is really pretty; it's a bright shade of pink with yellow in the center—a combination I'd hate in any other context, but on flowers, I think it's gorgeous.
I took photos of it from every possible angle because I absolutely loved this little flower; in some photos, it even seems to have a hint of purple. The green leaves underneath have a rather unique shape—sort of oval—but they’re also thick and have a very smooth texture. I’d never seen leaves like this before. Taking photos of this flower was quite an experience for me because I was also able to take pictures of it with a cell phone that has a good camera, and they turned out really beautiful.
Since I don’t know much about flowers, I looked up the name of this plant online, and it turns out its scientific name is Talinum fruticosum. According to Google, it’s commonly known as “water leaf” (I’d never heard that name before either), and apparently this flower is edible—though only in moderate amounts, since it contains oxalic acid, which can apparently be dangerous. But I don’t plan on eating them, haha, I just thought that fact was interesting.