Phone Photography Contest 44 - Blooming Late But Better Than Never

Hello phone photographers. Welcome to the Phone Photography Contest Round 44. This contest is hosted by @untilwelearn. Hope you can join if you still have not. The link to the contest can be found at the end of this post.

Every year at around November or December this vine blooms one of the prettiest flowers in our garden. It flowers once a year and believe me, the long wait is worth it. But last November and December the vines were devoid of flowers and I was disappointed that I couldn't witness the beauty of their blooms. In fact, I had to trim the topmost parts because the vines were already reaching up to the wires of the electrical posts which could pose as a fire hazard. This meant lesser vines for flowers to bloom. Oh well, maybe next year.

But two days ago, I noticed the plant had sprouted flowers as from nowhere! Like a "now you see me now you don't" Houdini magic trick. I was so happy that I began taking photos, in various stages of bloom.

This is the Garlic Vine also called Garlic Creeper, Purple Garlic Vine or False Garlic. If you love garlic, you will adore this plant. Everything in it smells of garlic! The flowers, the leaves, and I suspect, the branches if you skin off the bark. In fact, the young leaves can actually be used as seasoning same as that of basil or sage.

It is also a medicinal wonder. The plant contains several sulphur compounds like alliin and allyl sulphides similar to those in garlic, that give it analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic and anti-pyretic properties and used for the treatment of the various ailments. Beauty with culinary and health benefits.

I took a branch with flowers to adorn our altar. Just a branch. But soon there will be bunches.

And so, the annual saga of our Garlic Vine continues. This is the third annual post I made for this lovely flower and I look forward again to do so next year.

I hope you enjoyed this post. See you again around this time next year for the next bloom. Thanks for dropping by. Stay safe and may you all have a great week ahead.

Link to contest post

(All photos are mine. )