Colour in Kingston
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 27/Jul/2010 11:19, 34 days ago
The rainy season has brought a change in colour to Kingston. The bougainvillea are taking a rest. There are still a few blooms here and there but nowhere near as massive as it was when we arrived 4 months ago. What we do have now are trees thick with other flowers and fruit in abundance - bananas, mangoes, breadfruit, coconut and ackee. These trees are in full colour.Ackee dangling like Christmas ornaments are always a delight to see.George told me the breadfruit was introduced into Jamaica by Captain Bligh which we found out was in 1793 from seedlings brought from Tahiti.Not to mention the grand daddy of phalanx symbols - the banana! Bananas are everywhere, bright yellow with their purple flowers that eventually pop out into more bananas. This one is growing outside the laundry room in our apartment compound.But the most common of all is the mango tree which have been producing fruit the entire time we've been here. Mangoes turn yellow with spots of orange when ripe. There are six trees on the Girl Guides property alone which they guard carefully from the street vendors who come in to pick a few to sell next door outside Devon House on the corner of Hope and Waterloo.This beautiful poinciana tree, above, outside Oaklands on Constant Spring Road took my breath away on Sunday as we drove up into the mountains. This picture is taken through the car windshield so you can imagine the colour is even more vibrant without the window's glare.George pointed out the interesting thing about Jamaica is that it's green; lush and colourful with blossoms all year round. Where George lived in Africa, the dry season slowly turns everything yellow and brown as the plants and trees hibernate. Since there are no frosts, the dry season comes without fall colours. Not in Jamaica! It's always lush and tropically colourful.