Urban Nature is a terrific prompt

It recalls a story of resilience

We used to walk every morning along the boundary fence of the Emirates Palace hotel.

The Emirates Palace is a lavish and iconic hotel, set on a stunning site on the shores of the Arabian Gulf. It took 4 years to complete, and is the third most expensive hotel in the world.

Inside the grounds are stunning gardens and beautiful lawns where cricket matches and rugby games have been played. Consider, this is a desert island, you can only imagine how much water is required.

We noticed a tiny plant growing outside of the boundary wall. It continued to grow over the course of many weeks. The plant flowered!! What joy!!

After flowering, the plant sprouted little seed pods and I picked some up from the ground where they had fallen. They dried and I planted some of the seeds in a pot outside my kitchen door.

I was delighted, as I had recognised the species, Arabian Thorn Mimosa.

Its small pom-pom like flowers have a beautiful perfume.

I found it a miracle that the seed must have found a tiny amount of water seeping through the palace wall.

One, sad day the little tree was cut down.

However, three of the seeds, I planted eventually propagated in the pot. They grew into small trees which I kept in pots. When we moved house to the other side of Abu Dhabi Island I planted those trees in our new garden. Its now 8 years and they continue to thrive and flower each winter