I know the title sounds odd. I am 41 yrs. old and I am not from another planet (as far as I know…hee hee) but being from the south (not the deep-south but rather south Florida) the climate is so tropical that the flora and fauna, soil, and amounts of cold days are very different from anything I have ever really known. Watching spring unfold in the northwest is a real treat for me and I am watching with my eyes wide open.
I’ve been watching the buds pop out on the tree limbs and have enjoyed seeing the extremely lovely Cherry Blossoms and petals that are now falling like rain on the streets and sidewalks. Yesterday I noticed two bright pink flowers sitting in a bowl of water on the counter of a local coffeehouse and asked what kind of flowers they were, Camellias the man told me. I only know the name Camellia because the town I am from has a stretch of streets on the beachside that are named in alphabetical order by flower names and one is Camellia. The flower is really lovely but has very little fragrance. I was told that the bush/tree is lovely when it is flowering but that when the flowers drop to the ground they turn brown and get slimy.
The Daffodils and Tulips are dotting many yards and sidewalk planting squares which are really a feast for the eyes!!! Watching people planting in their yards and the community gardens around the city is a real treat for someone like me who was more likely to see landscape companies doing their form of “gardening” (which really means transplanting potted flowers or hedge bushes to small dirt islands that dot heavily sodded yards or the strip of dirt that borders the outside of houses) to people’s property. It is such an organic site to see here that I wonder if people can understand what I am talking about.
There are two Blue jay birds that I enjoy watching each early morning as they fly between the four yards that are within view of my third-story windows. It is fun to see them fly from the roof top next door to the Bamboo trees and grassy yard on my property looking for something….food I guess but it has never been clear to me. It just looks like they are playing with each other. I am used to seeing Blue jays back east, but these are much bigger with a more pointed head (I have been told that city Blue jays have more rounded heads and maybe they are smaller than mountain Blue jays).
So the flowers that I am used to seeing this time of year are Hibiscus, Bougainvillea, (which are mostly grown as hedge bushes), Oleanders and Azaleas. The trees that are in bloom this time of year are Jacaranda (beautiful little lavender/periwinkle color petal flowers) and my favorite, Royal Poinciana (in the same family as the Jacaranda they produce bright & blood-orange clusters of flowers that can take up more space then the green leaves making the tree top look like it is on fire) and most certainly my favorite smell of the spring season is the Orange blossoms!!! Coming from Indian River County which is known as the citrus capital of the country I was fortunate to live out near citrus groves which far exceeded the amount of housing land. Unfortunately the reverse is true (more houses and less farm land) now. This is the time of year I would drive my car with my windows down so that I could take in wafts of orange blossom smells!
Spring is a magical time for me. It signals the beginning of long days (great for bike rides and BBQ’s with friends) in the great outdoors and hopefully a summer vacations!
I hope you are enjoying the fantastic northwest weather!!
Lots of hugs and kisses!!
Emma : )
