Saturday, May 21, 2011

PURPLE

IT'S THE PURPLE TIME of year in Southern California and according to a flickr friend who lives in Spain, it is there, too, for it's the season that the jacaranda trees bloom.



They make a statement, standing out against the darker greens of normal trees

As the flowers mature, they fall and carpet the ground beneath them and because there are 2 sides to every coin, the fallen blossoms can be a bit nasty when tracked inside.


I know that, for when Once Upon a Time was on the corner, we had a jacaranda tree just outside our door.


In the view we have from our 4th floor window, I watched a distant cloud of grey turn, day by day, into a billow of purple.


I once, on half of a postcard, painted by memory my rendition of jacaranda trees,
In that memory they signal the end of the school year and I recall seeing them as we drove to the harbor to board a ferry headed for a week on the island of Catalina. Funny how certain impressions linger.


CaƱada Blvd. is lined with purple loveliness this time of year. We may not have the raging fire of color that New England rightfully boasts about in the fall, but we can claim purple Junes in our neck of the woods.

7 comments:

  1. Love the comparison to the New England fall colors. I have to admit that I love the fact that my neighbors have jacarandas for me to enjoy and yet I don't have to clean up the mess. T.O. Joanne

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  2. Those purple trees were a mess! But I miss them...

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  3. Oh, thank you Jane for this blog. I so love the Jacarandas. They were in front of the home I grew up in. Their vibrant color will always be a part of my childhood memories.
    Cheers, Timi

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  4. The PERFECT neighbor owns a Jacaranda tree!!!!!

    They are curious though....the trees are very bare before they burst into color.... I had one in my front yard for a year and feared it was dead before the buds miraculously appeared!!! Honestly, that lavender carpet was a JOY. I'd never complain about the dropped blooms! And, the payoff is the fern-like leaves that follow. INCREDIBLE.

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  5. oh my... i have one in my front yard...love the color...but the mess they leave on the ground is not so fun!

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  6. Hello, Jane.
    I feel proud to be your flickr friend from Spain who said it's the purple season here too.
    Your pics of the jacaranda trees are great and the text that goes with them too. Above all I like your mentioning the end of the school year!! ;-)

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  7. Them's some very nice pics, Hane. Thanks.

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