Christmas in Summer …
[All pictures featured here are my own]
Summer is on us in the northern hemisphere. The fresh buds and riotous blooms of spring are almost behind us. I have to carefully time my walks with the dog in the morning to avoid the heat that sneaks up quickly. Those few weeks of spring were a treat to the senses with colorful flowers bursting everywhere and young foliage glistening in the morning sun. While some of the flowers and early bloom are now decaying, others take their place, sometimes at the most unexpected places.
At work the other day, I decided to take a mid-afternoon break and stepped out to take a walk around the campus. The business park where our office is now is a redevelopment project with corporations and law offices as tenants and replaced a retail strip and local watering hole with prohibition era roots. Stepping out as I turned the corner of the building, I paused at the crimson blooms on some of the trees on the perimeter. SF Bay Area where I live, weeping bottle brushes dot the streets and from far they looked like them. As I approached closer, I was delighted that they were a cluster of New Zealand Christmas Trees. I had no idea that a nondescript corporate campus could have such a beautiful tree. Scientifically known as Metrosideros excelsa (pōhutukawa in Maori) they grow in their natural habitat of New Zealand during December through January (summer in the southern hemisphere) earning it the “Christmas Tree” moniker.
Apparently, when the first settlers moved to San Francisco the area was mostly grasslands and as the city settled, urban planners welcomed species from other parts of the world and the Christmas Tree was adopted as a popular street tree [1].
I also found a bit of an interesting story about an unusual Christmas Tree in a popular blog about SF street trees
This tree is one of the city’s best specimens of New Zealand Christmas tree ( Metrosideros excelsa), popular for its…www.sftrees.com
I ran into another interesting import from down under during my weekend run to the local shopping promenade. The kangaroo paw plant (anigozhantus) adorning a planter stopped me in my tracks. This attractive plant is originally from Western Australia and is a favorite of hummingbirds
The planter box nearby also had a beautiful mixed color petunia that was a real head turner.
As I got back home I couldn’t help but notice the bloom in my front yard. Lily of the Nile, Fortnight lilies, geraniums, hibiscus are in full bloom
In the backyard, the rose shrub had a prolific growth with their pristine pink clusters. They are at their peak now and will wilt in a few days.
I bend closer to take in the fresh fragrance one last time before retreating inside my study. I need to get my reading list ready. The dog days of summer are almost here..
[1] — https://www.colehardware.com/the-street-trees-of-san-francisco/
