A Continuum

tabebuia or golden poui tree

The seasons don't arrive in a clear-cut manner in southwest Florida. Rather, there are trees and plants blooming at all different times of the year, oozing through the seasons, one might say.

Mango trees bloom here in January and February, and now, at the beginning of March, sport fruits the size of a thumbnail. They will grow bigger and bigger and  ripen in June and July, depending on the variety. "MangoMania," a festival surrounding the fruit, is scheduled in our area in July.

Citrus trees bloom in February or March, and the fruits are ripe in November or December.

This week, it is the golden poui, also known as the tabebuia or trumpet tree, which has taken center stage. Tabebuia can also be pink, but yellow is the predominant variety around here. My impression is that the leaves fall just before the bright yellow flowers appear. These blooms last only a few days and fall from a tree all at one time, leaving a golden carpet underneath.

When friends up north ask if we miss the change of seasons living in a sub-tropical environment, we say, "no" because we have our seasons, depending on which plants are blooming at any given time. We can tell that it is April, for example, when the frangipani trees, which have been completely bare all winter, suddenly put out green leaves and yellow or pink flowers. In fact, some friends who live in Connecticut for half the year, say they time their trip northward by the eruption of frangipani flowers.

Just as trees up north are losing their leaves, in September and October, the silk floss tree  explodes with big pink flowers. This is neither here nor there, but interesting: its trunk is covered with nasty thorns.