Mayil Manikkam is called as Ipomoea in English. This plant is rarely seen nowadays in this area but all thanks to my mom, I have known about this plant since my childhood days.We had grown this vine back in those old gardening days and seen them blooming through out the year. When we set up the garden this time in the new property, it was my Mom's wish to host this plant in our garden but we never got hold of a vine.We often checked in the sunday garden market but no luck.That is until very recently,when the vendor had a bunch of small mayil manikkam saplings brought in during December and we quickly snatched one from him for a very decent price.
It was duly transplanted to a container full of rich soil and kept nearby the entrance where there is a pole for the vine to catch and climb to the terrace.Catch and climb it did but flowering--nope.It did not flower even after becoming a huge bush of vines.We were patiently waiting and consoling ourselves by recalling stories of its flowering seasons from the previous garden setups. My mom told about her childhood days when she set up an ornamental garden when she was in sixth form and that mayil manikkam vine was one of the firsts to be planted and that it bloomed red.
I asked my mom why it is called mayil manikkam and she said the mayil(peacock) reference was for the leaves which resemble the peocock feathers.I guessed manikkam is ruby in English and could stand for the flower color.
I think the plant heard our repeated whispering and finally relented. A single bud came out last week and bloomed.
