Meandering Missive: It's beginning to look a lot like SPRING

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

It's beginning to look a lot like SPRING

Last week, along with going to Los Gatos to photograph the beautiful acacia trees in bloom, I also went to the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple on McLaughlin Avenue in San Jose, because there's always something in bloom there, especially late winter through mid-spring. I was not disappointed! :)

Of course, you don't have to be Vietnamese OR Buddhist to visit the temple. I've never been inside the building, since I'm not sure if I'm supposed to and I've never seen anyone to ask. However, I've walked around the grounds many times, and always enjoy how wonderfully well-kept the landscaping is.

One of my friends over at LiveJournal wanted to see my "Bee in Blossom" photo, which I'd told her about a few days ago, so I'm sharing that one first. (Actually I already shared it in my Live Journal version of this blog. I didn't plan on having a friendly BEE arrive in the picture; it just happened by accident -- definitely a happy accident! :) Click on the pic above for a really neat close-up.

I think this is a flowering almond tree, because the blossoms are pure white, and early-blooming. However, these days there are so many different cultivars and hybrids of stonefruit, I can't always tell what flower will become what fruit!! *blush* This tree hadn't sprouted any leaves yet either, which made identification even harder. BTW, when I say stonefruit, I mean fruits of the genus Prunus, which all have a hard pit in the center with "flesh" around it. Examples include peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, prunes, cherries and, yes, almonds.

The Buddhist temple also has a large number of flowering quince bushes in the landscaping, and they too are very early bloomers. Although fruiting quinces generally grow as trees (with the tangy, pear-like fruit used in jelly and preserves), flowering quinces tend to be grown as medium to tall shrubs or hedges. They're cultivated for their gorgeous, festive blossoms, which these days exist in just many different shades of pink, red or orange, along with white. Sometimes flowering quinces produce small, starchy yellow fruits as well. As you might guess, yes -- quinces are related to pears and apples. :) Below are two of my quince photos; you can click each of them to view a close-up, if you like.

Finally, we have the rare (at least in this area) and exquisite Purple Orchid Tree, known botanically as Bauhinia purpurea or Bauhinia variegata. I had NO idea what this was when I was at the temple, because even though every plant has a "nametag", they're all in Vietnamese. I discovered the tree's name totally by accident at home, when I was looking up something else. Talk about good luck!

The flowers look, at least to me, like a cross between a purple orchid and some type of tiger lily. *chuckle* They have a mild fruity/floral scent and are so pretty! According to my research, the tree has an interesting "schedule", blooming winter through spring, and dropping its leaves some time during the same period! The flowers turn into long messy seedpods, and the tree eventually refoliates with its unusual light-green, broad-lobed leaves. Interestingly enough, this tree is in the same family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) as peas and beans! That's also the family acacias, caesalpinias, royal poincianas, mimosas, locusts and carobs are in, but we won't get into all THAT! *grin*

Instead, I'll let you enjoy the photo below. Feel free to click it for a close-up shot!

Today I am feeling springy!

posted by ScaryShari @ 5:13 PM

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