I love spring time! The weather is perfect, and flowers are in full bloom everywhere I look. The sky is just the perfect shade of blue interspersed with fluffy, white, cotton-candy clouds.

This year, I got myself a few potted plants for my balcony. Little did I realise how much they’d brighten up my days!

My in-laws, who are passionate about gardening (their home balconies are full of beautifully maintained potted plants and flowers of all colours and varieties), were kind enough to give me a few plants, and I picked up a few more from a nursery nearby. But my favourite plants, by far, this year have been the lilies.

When I had first brought all my potted plants home, I spread them out in the balcony adjoining my living room to admire them. There were yellow chrysanthemums, orange marigolds, yellow and purple pansies and a pot of little pink flowers. There were also a few green plants like crotons and a plant that looked like a lily plant, except it was all leaves with no sign of any flowers.

I was most curious about this plant, because I was felt it was going to bring forth lilies soon, yet I wasn’t sure. I pointed it out to my husband and he suggested it might be another green plant and not necessarily a lily.

Weeks went by and I kept watering and nurturing my plants. The flowering plants were already doing well, and looked pretty. But there was no sign of any new buds on the green ‘supposedly’ lily plant.

Yet I kept nurturing it and looking for signs of flowers each morning.

Every morning I’d wake up, get out of bed and go straight to the balcony to see how my plants were doing.

And then one day, I saw this!

I was so excited that I squealed with joy, and my husband came running to see what had happened! I started doing a happy dance and pointed excitedly at the new buds that had sprung up seemingly overnight.

“I told you they were lilies!” I squealed joyfully.

Now that I knew my lilies were on their way, I couldn’t wait to see what shade of red they would be.

Every morning the first thing I’d do was step out on the balcony to see my flowers and check on the lilies.

After a couple of days, this happened!

Bright red lilies!

Believe it or not, I’d never seen red lilies before. At home, we’d always had white lilies. I could hardly believe my eyes at this beautiful pop of colour!

As the days went by, my lilies grew and I’d wake up every morning to go check on them. It was a very exciting time!

And then, one day, the flowers bloomed in all their glory!

It’s been a new experience for me, growing and nurturing my plants. I loved the fact that the lilies took their own sweet time to grow, and yet when they did, their beauty was so majestic and outshone the other perennials. The joy of watching your plants grow, buds sprouting and flowers blossoming – I felt that for the first time this year. I found my very own little happy place, both in my heart and in my balcony!