Saturday, March 6, 2010

Yellow!

The Carribbean Trumpet Trees (tabebuia caraiba/ tabebuia aurea) are putting up a brilliant display in  Bangalore at this time of the year. It's a riot of yellow all over the neighbourhood!

At first i wondered if this was the Chestnutleaf Trumpetbush (tecoma castanifolia) but soon realised it was not - the latter has broader leaves, with serated edges; but this one has narrow leaves that have almost all fallen when the tree is in bloom. (not unlike the white trumpet tree (tabebuia roseo-alba) that i was first acquainted with in Chennai)



Its crooked branches are hidden by the yellow flower bunches, but if you take a minute to observe its shape, you'll realise how unusually wonderful it is - asymmetric and filled with contortions.

What better time to quote William Blake -
Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

This post has been featured in the 46th Festival Of The Trees and in Ideas of Inspiration. Go check them out!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Tree links

Its hot and sunny where i am, but lets not forget that there are places in the world where this time of the year is cold, barren, white .. and beautiful! Winterwoman Jennifer Schlick shares some beautiful pictures of trees in winter in her blog, A Passion for Nature.

And while you're at it, go to the post that lead me to Jennifer's blog, the 45th Festival of the Trees, at the Voltage Gate. I could not contribute to the last two festivals, but managed to slip in an entry for this one.