Hoping the Benguet Lilies Will Not Simply Be a Memory

Benguet Lilies from the Cordilleran Sun FB page. 

      Growing up in the 1980s to the 1990s, two kinds of flowers on the steep slopes of the Itogon-Tuba area in Benguet really fascinated me--the walls of sunflowers during the cold months of November to February and the beautiful white Benguet Lilies that sporadically popped out among the light green blades of grass on the steep mountain slopes during the start of the rainy season (May to July).

The yellow sunflowers gave warmth to the cold mornings and the Benguet Lilies signaled the end of the carefree summer days and the start of a new school year with old classmates and new teachers.

I never picked these flowers. They were just there, alive, ready to be visually enjoyed. The sunflowers were easy picking as they simply hugged the slopes right down to the road. To get to the lilies, however, you'd have to stop a running jeepney so you could leap or crawl toward any of the blooms.

I just realized now that maybe this is why the two flower colors I still prefer up to now are white and yellow.

The walls of sunflowers have already dwindled around Baguio. I hope we don't permanently lose the Benguet Lilies.