Creative Plant Life
Posted by quinncreative on November 30, 2007
When you are new to a place, everything seems different. After a year, you don’t notice the very things that startled you so much in the beginning. Here are some things I may not notice in a year, but this year, I thought, “You’d never see anything like this in the East.”
The bougainvillea are so saturated in color that when you see them against a blue sky, it seems that somebody is messing with Photoshop. But it’s not. The plants and sky are exactly this color.
Then there are trees covered in glossy green leaves and studded with bright oranges. There are also lemons and grapefruit, named because they hang in clusters, like giant grapes. But the contrast between the green shiny leaves and orange fruit is wonderful to enjoy.
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*Palm trees are a great source of wonder for the newcomer. They need to be trimmed , and this must be the season to do it. After a trim, they look like they all have the palm-tree version of a faux-hawk.
But they do get bushy again. And when they are full and bushy, and it gets to be time to decorate the trees for the holidays, they put lights in them.
No confusing them with “O Tannenbaum!” but they are a sight to behold. At first I thought the lights were on stands, but nope, these are the real trees with palm lights. Not only are the trunks wrapped 
in two shades of lights, but the center vein of each palm frond is striped in green lights.
Luminarias are favorites of mine. Originally, they were paper bags with a sovelful of sand in the bottom. A candle is stuck in the sand and lit, creating a warm glow. Now many of them are plastic instead of paper, or at least fire-retardant paper. In this case, almost two miles of them are placed and lit in the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. I was lucky enough to see how they extinguish them at the end of the evening. Volunteers holding 4-foot long devices that look like turkey basters come along, put 
the pointy end in the bag and squeeze the bulb on top. It blows out the candle.
–Quinn McDonald is a writer and speaker. See her work at QuinnCreative.com (c) All images and words, Quinn McDonald, 2007. All rights reserved. All photos taken with an iPhone.
November 30, 2007 at 1:58 am
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptCreative Plant Life Posted by quinncreative on November 30, 2007 When you are new to a place, everything seems different. After a year, you don’t notice the very things that startled you so much in the beginning. Here are some things I may not notice in a year, but this year, I thought, “You’d never see anything like this in the East.” [IMG bouganvilla]The bougainvillea are so saturated in color that when you see them against a blue sky, it seems that somebody is messing with Photoshop. But [...]
November 30, 2007 at 3:07 am
Dear Quin: A child of the far north I felt as you have told so well, and photographed so beautifully .about the palms, the citrus, and the bougainvillea. Now when the vast fronds of the neighbors palms drop over my porch I grumble despite the early wonder! Bougainvillea in every color is everywhere in our suburb over garages, fences and patios;lemons are plentiful and each spring a grapefruit tree is laden with the lovely scent of white blossoms. Thank you for returning my sense of wonder with your sharing. Fran
—-Fran, when those big palm fan-leaves fall into the pool or patio, they sure can make a mess. So I’m writing about how much I love them while I still do!
-Q
November 30, 2007 at 5:38 am
I love luminaries — when living in Santa Fe, NM everyone had them during the holidays and you even saw them at other times of the year. They bring such a soft light and warmth. And — living in Las Vegas, I loved the decorated palms trees lit up at Christmas time. Ahhhh, there is much beauty and contrast in the Southwest…
–I’ve seen luminarias before, but last night there were over two miles of them, and I’ve never seen them in such numbers. They must have made the already beautiful Santa Fe even more beautiful! -Q
November 30, 2007 at 7:06 am
Like Espirit07, I was immediately reminded of the luminarias of Santa Fe by your last picture. It’s great fun to walk up and down Canyon Road just off of downtown, the bags lining the gentle curves of the adobe walls, peering into yards where the bags are lined up in complex patterns on the ground. They have bonfires on the street corners where you can stop and warm up, sing a few carols, and maybe pass around a bottle of something to warm you up. Great times! I will always cherish those memories. Thanks for the reminder!
—What a great image! It sounds just magical. Last night it was just as astonishing amount of luminarias.
-Q
November 30, 2007 at 8:20 am
And those oranges taste so good, juicy and sweet right off the tree.
Great pictures, Quinn.
Vi
November 30, 2007 at 8:30 am
A lot of people here have the luminarias and they look even neater in the snow! Wonderful pictures, Quinn - it’s so exiciting to see this through your eyes.
–I hadn’t thought of them in the snow, but they must be breathtaking against that white background!
-Q
November 30, 2007 at 8:35 pm
what a wonderful magical place you’ve come to, I may have to start hitchiking my way there
December 3, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Well, I’m slightly north and quite a bit east of you, so no palm trees, but when the first cold snap hits and the winds blow the leaves off the trees and the grass all goes dormant, the mistletoe shines out from the river oaks: bright spring green and white berries against the gray of the trunks and sky.
Many of the newcomers grumble that mistletoe is a parasite and not really a flower, but is it any wonder that it became the state flower when it is just about the only green thing that still looks decorative in the winter time?
Every new region has its awesome sights: the rape fields in central England, the heather on the hills of Scotland, the pines of east Texas, the roses of north central Texas, the fall color of northern deciduous trees; so now you get to enjoy palms, citrus and vines that die to nothing elsewhere in the country. Ain’t life grand?
December 10, 2007 at 7:39 am
That’s a very keen insight about using the eyes of a newcomer. I’ve made several big moves in my life, and the observations I made early were always the best and sharpest ones. In time, you grow used to almost anything. Those are lovely pictures.
We had luminaries in our neighborhood in Richmond Va when I lived in the U.S. Here in Bern, Switzerland, they have a luminary feast on August 1, the national holiday (a.k.a. 4th of July, U.S.) We buy little paper cups with a candle in them for SF 5, about $4 (the proceeds go to charity) and someone floats them onto the Aare river just after sunset and beyond. Then you go stand on a bridge over the river after dark and watch endless chains of them drift by. The current sort of forms them into streams, and they never cover the whole surface of he river. To prevent pollution, the fire department spreads a net across the river downtown and catches the dead candles for proper burning (only in Switzerland!).