In Praise of Blossoming Trees

There are few things in Nature as beautiful as a tabebuia tree. The photo here is of one I tended, watered and pruned for nine years. Lovely tree; it was a gift from our next door neighbor.

The fact that a tabebuia only blooms for a few days each spring does not detract from its beauty. It’s a reminder for me that life is fleeting and we blossom for a brief season, then fall away and return to the earth. It is good to have your day in the sun!

Though these lovely trees are barren now, there are some beautiful trees, fairly-common in the Sunshine State, which display their gorgeous, bright-yellow blossoms in summer’s sultry heat! I refer to the yellow poinciana, better known to arborists as the peltophorum.

You might say that the tabebuia and the yellow poinciana are cousins.

I’ve seen more than a few of them around Central Florida in the last three or four summers; they’re quite a spectacle for those of us who crave a little color in the Florida landscape before autumn’s arrival. They seem to blossom from the top down and the blossoms last a good, long while. They can grow up to 50 ft tall; I’ve seen one nearly that size near the entrance to Disney’s Jambo House Resort.

Count me as one of those Floridians who stays indoors a lot more at this time of year. Day after day of temps in the mid-nineties gets old pretty quick. When I do motor about from place to place here in our subtropical paradise, it’s such a welcome pleasure to be greeted by those lovely yellow blossoms.

Brother Ben

Photo credit Benjamin Lawrence Basile

Published by stfranman

I am a man who strives to be compassionate and believes that the life and teachings of Jesus still show us how to live and how to treat others in the 21st Century.***I believe that the tide of ugliness coming from elected officials and so-called leaders of the evangelical churches is a tragedy and must be countered with a renewed emphasis on modeling the compassion, teaching and life of Jesus.***I also believe that we have failed miserably in our stewardship of the Earth, our common home, and that this is also a grave failure of our corporate will and must be addressed.***These two horrible trends--the abrogation of the clear teachings of Jesus to follow in his footsteps and our failings to care for the Earth and all its inhabitants--must be resisted, must be countered with clear teachings and committed actions.***That is the mission, the driving force, behind our movement. View all posts by stfranman

2 thoughts on “In Praise of Blossoming Trees”

Stacey Dalili says:

March 12, 2019 at 7:52 pm

Hi Ben,

I really enjoyed this post. 🙂

I agree these trees are a pleasure to look at. The community in which I live did have several of them, both the yellow and pink varieties, but sadly, they took them all away last year when they redid the landscaping 😦 (my guess would be because the flowers fell all over the sidewalks and made not-so-beautiful messes when trampled on). I did enjoy them while they lasted though. And I had not known the name until I read your post which led me to Google the trees (mostly to figure out how to pronounce Tabebuia) and I found out that they are also known as “Golden Trumpet” trees.

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1. stfranman says:
  
  March 12, 2019 at 11:43 pm
  
  They are beautiful! So many reasons to be intoxicated at the beauty of nature! And these trees are one! And at the springtime of the year, Nature’s beauty is all around us!
  
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