Six Trees

Our home in Laguna Beach is on a slope. The house and large deck are on the top half and most of my garden is on the lower half of the acre. When you stand on the deck and look down you get glimpses of the garden through the trees, which was my intention. I wanted people to be enticed to walk down to the garden, not stand on the deck and view it from above. It's not that kind of garden. It needs to be seen up close, smelled, heard, felt and in some cases, tasted.

When you look at the above photo taken from the deck, you can see six different kinds of trees (click the photo to enlarge). To the left is an avocado tree that is in full bloom and buzzing with bees. In the upper left is the tall, straight trunk of a European birch that is just starting to leaf out. At the top of the picture, in the back, is a pittosporum, just coming into bloom with it's fragrant little white flowers. The bare branches coming out from the right are from the myoporum tree that is under attack that I wrote about in the previous post. To the far right are the lacy leaves of a jacaranda tree, getting ready to drop before it blooms. Then at the very bottom, in the middle is a small ficus tree that is actually in a pot on the lower deck.

One of the things I love about this garden is the variety. There is always something happening somewhere at all times of the year, but I must admit, spring is the most exciting time.