It's Jacaranda time. For about 46 weeks of the year, these trees look non-descript and unremarkable. But for about 6 weeks or so they are in all their glory. We're having a particularly particular "May gray" season this year - but these lovelies are a welcome vision. They start "turning" end of April, and are in full swing right now. Though some of them, depending where they are, blah, blah, are in that "half-state" with the green already coming back.
They were introduced to San Diego by Kate Sessions, a noted horticulturalist. Kate is considered the "mother" of Balboa Park. She brought well over 100 different kinds of species of trees to San Diego. The Jacaranda is the city's official "Ornamental tree." The city also has a park and elementary school named for her. She lived from 1857-1940. She was a San Francisco native, and one of the first women graduates from Berkeley. Her work will be appreciated by generations of San Diegans and visitors to come.
I didn't shrink the picture before I uploaded, so if you click on it you can see an enlargement.
