The diminishing yellow jasmine

Islamabad: Every year the first sign that spring is around the corner is seeing the yellow jasmine flowers blooming wherever the pretty bush can be still found, making a splash of colour amid the brown and dusty surroundings of buildings and bare trees. We have had a late winter this year and it’s still very chilly in the evenings, so the yellow jasmine has also been late in appearing as it needs warm sunshine to blossom. A number of shrubs and trees that herald spring with new leaves beat the pretty yellow flower this year – or so it appeared.

Now that it’s in full bloom we can appreciate its beauty yet mourn the fact that the cheerful looking yellow ‘chambeli’ bushes are not as abundant as they used to be. We hardly ever see them in public places like we used to before, adorning boundary walls and growing freely along roadsides - though it does bloom in profusion in private homes and gardens or those that belong to institutions. The bush has been either done away with in many places during infrastructure development, or those that are still growing are chopped too much by gardeners of civic institutions, who trim the long fronds which hold the flowers, leaving the bushes looking stunted and ugly!

Wherever this bright flower is still spotted in public it is a cheerful and spirit uplifting sight. Though it has no scent – its bright, yellow colour makes up for this deficiency - it grows on a hardy plant and blossoms for about a month or six weeks, new flowers replacing the old to keep the shrub looking as beautiful as it appears at it first blooming. Thereafter the bush remains green and is still good to look at, - especially if it is allowed to grow freely – and it makes a nice backdrop to other flowers if you have a big garden and need to cover the space in a pretty and aesthetic manner.