All over Sydney, there’s gorgeous patches of pale purpley-blue. The photo montage below uses thumbnails taken from a Flickr search on “sydney jacaranda”.
Occasionally people plant colourful Australian natives like the ‘Illawarra Flame’ Tree (brachychiton acerifolius) or a ‘Silky Oak’ (grevillea robusta) near to a jacaranda (jacaranda mimosifolia) to get contrasts like this:
(that last shot actually taken in the Canary Islands, not Sydney at all)
What’s the iconic spring flowers or autumn foliage around your neck of the woods? What should I pop into the Flickr search engine to find some great shots?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
Kowhai
Beautiful golden blooms dripping from bare branches. Not in my current neck of the woods, but I shall see them again next spring.
In the early spring, forsythia is the dominant splash of color in the northeastern US. That glorious yellow means spring is coming. If you time it right, as soon as the bushes develop buds, you can cut branches off and bring them inside, to get blooms a few weeks earlier. Later in the spring, lilacs are splashy; while the pale purple lilacs are most stereotypical (hence the color name), they come in other colors as well. If you walk in the woods in New England and see a lilac, you know that there was once a house there.
When I lived in Florida, the was the early spring flowering tree; later we had wisteria.
All my paws are flowering! The jacarandas are more spectacular, though, because they rise above the rooftops, so you can look out across the ‘burbs and see them all.
The Melaleuca nesophila should be flowering soon – there’s not nearly enough of them, but the riot of pink/purple pom-poms makes me happy.
The flowering of the jacaranda at Sydney Uni is supposed to be a sign that it’s too late to start studying to pass.
… I didn’t find that to be the case…
Of course, with the exam period nearly over it’s probably now too late to study, unless taking delayed or repeat exams. Sorry students: you can’t get much benefit from studying for an exam after taking it.
As I flew out of Sydney last Friday, I looked down on the big purple puddles of Jacaranda all over the burbs. It’s hard not to find it pretty.
We also have a huge number of street trees which look like tea trees to me, but I’m not sure what they are. They have masses of white flowers now, and look like boring tea trees for the rest of the year. 🙂
When I visited Sydney last summer, I was flabbergasted by the proliferation of flowers there. My daughters were especially taken with the frangipani trees.
I have two frangipani trees in my front garden. I’m looking forward to their blossoms – it means it’s holiday time!
Deborah, those kowhai look gorgeous – I’ve never even heard of them. Do they need more moisture than your average Oz garden can provide? I’m sure we’d have them otherwise.
aliceq, I don’t think it’s cold enough here for us to have either forsythia or lilacs.
I think there’s a word missing here! We have wisteria to look forward to later as well.
@lauredhel, paws don’t seem to have come in here around the council plantings yet. Perhaps in a few more weeks.
Friends of ours had a kowhai growing in their Melbourne garden, and there’s one growing in the New Zealand High Commission gardens in Canberra. I would have thought they would grow reasonably happily in south eastern Australia, ‘though I wonder if Sydney might be a bit humid for their taste.
I suspect they’re not seen here in great numbers because Australia has so many beautiful trees of its own! Plus imports, like the jacaranda. Our street here in Adelaide is jacaranda-lined, and they should be out in their full glory in a couple of weeks.
I went out for breakfast this morning (it was delicious). On the way back, I noticed several jacaranda trees in full bloom, one having artfully dumped an incredible amount of blossoms on someone’s car. It made a very pretty picture, but I imagine that the owner wouldn’t have been to pleased when they returned to their vehicle 😛
I grew up in Grafton and hence grew up with rows and rows of Jacarandas in full bloom every year. Was up there in early November for the first time in 20 years for the festival. The avenues of Jacarandas and the purple carpet they create is still a wonderful sight.
Shaun, I’d forgotten about you being a Grafton boy! It’s years since I’ve been up there around Jacaranda Festival time – glad to hear it’s still going strong.