Bigger than Texas

I am constantly surprised by the scale of everything here, especially plants. This is a photo of flowers from the Philippine Wax Flower, at least that is what we call it. The flowers are from one plant and the green leaves are from a different plant type. The flower stocks look like torches and one stem is often taller than I am, with the stalk bigger around than my thumb. I will cut a leaf from a random plant while walking along, thinking to put it in vase and I find that I have nothing big enough to hold it. I notice when I am looking at subjects to paint that everything about a scene is bigger and always brighter than I can cope with. Shade is highly prized. Also spots to temporarily hide out from the big scale of everything, including the sound of the jungle. I hide out for brief periods in the bodega just to get away briefly from it all. This plant grows best in shade. We have transplanted them all over the place now, but the first one came from Nancy's land. I call it the mother plant and these blooms are from her.