The Jacaranda

Spring has sprung in Malawi. Sometimes that is hard to discern, since we have flowering trees and shrubs year round, but in the spring there are more of them, especially the jacaranda. They are possibly my favorite tree. When I was a young girl, read a novel set in South Africa and the author described the lovely lavender blossoms of the jacaranda in the spring. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I was familiar with white and pink cherry blossoms on trees and with purple iris blossoming in the garden and then with red, orange and yellow maples in the fall, but there were no lavender trees that I knew of. When I moved to Southern California, I finally saw the lavender jacaranda. The tree delighted me.

When I moved to Malawi, I was overjoyed to have one in my yard, first when I lived in Zomba and now in Blantyre. It is really only lavender for a few weeks of the year. Then it drops its delicate flowers to create a lavender carpet on the ground below its broad branches. The flowers are replaced by feathery green leaves that blend in with the surrounding trees for the other 11 months of the year. I don’t know why I enjoy it so much. It may be the delicate color, or maybe it is the contrast to all the green and brown around it. Maybe it is the delicate petals and the carpet they create. Maybe it is that I know nothing else like it. Or maybe it is all of these things. It is not that these are the only blossoms at this time of year. The bougainvillea and the oleander and even the poinsettia are in bloom. The flame trees are budding, as well as some trees whose names I don’t know but whose flowers I appreciate. Malawi is alive with color right now, but for whatever reason, my eye is drawn to the jacaranda.

My gardener Maxwell and I have a running debate about the jacaranda the entire time they are blossoming. I love the carpet they spread and he hates it. He feels compelled to sweep daily and is frustrated that he can’t keep up with the dropping petals. Every day I suggest that he just leave them and let them collect until the yard is lavender. And every day he gives me a look that lets me know that I am speaking foolishness. (If he were in the States, he would be raking autumn leaves hourly. I did it once a week – and thought that might be overdoing it. My former next door neighbor Tom would love Maxwell.) I regret that Maxwell is so good at his job. I would love the carpet, just once, but that is not Malawian.

Recently though, I have been thinking about God’s perfect timing. The jacaranda only flowers for about 4 weeks, and then they are green until the next spring. That is the way with all the flowering trees and even with the changing leaves that we enjoy in the northern hemisphere. We wait for them; we delight in them; we lament when they are gone. But we would not notice them as much or appreciate them as dearly if we had them year-round. They would become common, mundane. More than that, they would become irritating. Lavender jumps out at you and grabs your attention. That is good for a short time.  It is a nice reminder of spring. Green, on the other hand, in all its various shades, is soothing; it is calming. That is what we need most of the time. It is that calm that is one of the attractions of God’s creation. It is what gives rest to harried spirits. So as much as I love the jacaranda, I’m grateful that it blossoms for only a few weeks. It wouldn’t be nearly as special otherwise.