Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Chisme

I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley (on the Texas/Mexico border). I have a great appreciation of Mexico's customs and culture. Every so often, something will take my mind back to this culture.

Portulaca bloom.

(ADD moment... I am loving the zoom on my new camera. Did I tell you it's on my phone?)

At my nursery job in San Antonio, the older Hispanic ladies would come in and ask for "Chisme". I would take them straight way to the Portulaca.

The seed pod of the portulaca.

Chisme - direct translation is "thing" or "thingamajig". The slang translation would be "gossip".

Inside the seed pod is many seeds.

So like gossip, you open up the Portulaca seed pod -- it spreads forever.

chisme


8 comments:

MorningGlory said...

This is one of my favorite container flowers. They seem to thrive on neglect, and they look soooo pretty all season.

Carol said...

Love these for containers too!!! One of the flowers not crispy critterd this summer :)

Karen said...

I love portulaca...my mother calls them her 'moss roses'. These 'roses' are a lot easier to tend though!

Amazing camera you have on your phone, my phone pics all come out looking blurry.

NotSoAngryRedHead said...

What a cool common name for portulaca! I think names in other cultures/countries are so interesting because it's a different way of seeing a plant.

HolleyGarden said...

How interesting! I have some portulaca - I suppose once you have it, you can never get rid of it all! It's in shade, though, so no flowers yet.

Marguerite said...

What a wonderful description of these plants. I have never grown them but my mother is very fond, although in our colder climate we bring them indoors over the winter.

creekside rummager said...

Born and raised in CA - I've missed out. What a beautiful flower. I don't ever remember hearing about it or seeing it before. Thanks TG.

Shyrlene said...

Tufa Girl - just saying "portulaca" makes me smile!! I've always loved the way the word rolls of your tongue; and it makes you sound like you're smart and can speak a foreign language... or like you've visited some place exotic (aka "I had the BEST vacation in "Portulaca"...) AND it's a really cool plant - even if it's only an annual up here.

(Ok, I'll back away from the margarita now.) :D