Thursday, January 27, 2011

Winter's Flowers

The flowering pear trees are blooming. Their white blossoms always show up in January and February as if they're emulating the nearby mountain snow. Soon, cherry trees will get all the attention. They're dramatic and beautiful, but I'm a sucker for the flowering pear. Any tree that decides to make flowers in the middle of winter is a rebel after my own heart.

13 comments:

Judy Williams said...

Stunning. If not for the more contemporary cars, it would be a scene out of the Norman Rockwell America. Perfectly composed with that hint of blue sky and wispy white clouds!!

Green Guy said...

Another fantastic shot.

Michelle said...

Oh so pretty! I love those trees too.

Bellis said...

These flowering trees are so beautiful. Aren't we lucky? Seeing all the news footage today of the snowstorms on the East Coast makes me very happy to live here.

Anonymous said...

Where is that? It's beautiful.

TheChieftess said...

Aw...the joys and warmth of Southern California!!! Where spring really never goes completely away!!!

Johnny Brown said...

I tried to leave a comment over at South Pasadena Patch but I couldn't get my password to work. I just want to tell you how much I enjoyed this week's column. Have you considered doing a documentary on South Pas?

alex said...

if i remember correctly from my childhood in the altos, these trees SMELL, and not on a good way. they are very beautiful, though. on campus at USC's health sciences campus, they have these on the quad. look great on the cover of admissions viewbooks, but all the students complain about them.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

I'm a sucker for the false plumb with the deep red leaves. Witchy

Laurie Allee said...

Thanks, everyone!

Johnny Brown, thank you so much for your kind words. This week's column is one of my favorites, so I really appreciate it.

Bellis, I agree with you. I felt guilty watching my Twitter feed today with all the snowed in tweets from East coast friends.

Alex, would you believe this is the first I've heard about a bad scent associated with flowering pear trees? My in-laws have a real beauty outside of their house and I've stood out there for years admiring the flowers. Either I'm immune to the scent or there is a variety in SoCal that doesn't stink. Googling "flowering pear scent" brought up some hilarious descriptions. ("Grilling mystery meat," "like you stepped in something you wish you hadn't...")

And all this time I assumed the blossoms would smell good because they are fruit trees.

PA, false plum? Is that a great name or WHAT? Sounds like a character in a paranormal YA novel.

Anon, this shot is up in Monterey Hills, but I've forgotten the name of the street. I'm sure one of the regulars here will remember.

Laurie Allee said...

Oh, and Johnny, about a documentary of South Pasadena. I'd love to do one some day. When my daughter is older and I have more time!

Who cares what I think? said...

I never realized they smelled bad either. Maybe I'm too stuffy from allergies to everything else that blooms in this part of the world.

Laurie Allee said...

Okay, I just went to Pavillions and stood under a flowering pear. I didn't smell anything except Chinese food wafting from nearby. Are our pear trees a different kind or is my nose as stuffy as Who cares what I think? ;-)