Say what!? You don’t have a favorite tree? That, my friend, is crazy business. You need one. You owe it to yourself to find a tree ? that speaks to your soul, and designate it as your favorite. 🙂
This one’s been my favorite for years, and it goes OFF in the spring. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I get so emo about this tree! I could get lost for hours just staring up at it. I love her pale pink flowers, silvery gray trunk and the light green lichen on her branches. I look forward to it every spring.
Strangely enough, I’ve never named it — this coming from the person who names every inanimate object that crosses her path. It’s just my favorite ? tree. That’s it.
What about you? Do you have a favorite tree? Or another favorite plant?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Nicole says
April 3rd, 2018 at 2:52 pmIn Jamaica we call these Poui Trees. In school we were told that if you haven’t started studying before the Poui blooms you will fail your exams – so for me the blooming poui is ominous ?.
Rachel says
April 3rd, 2018 at 3:20 pmThat is a good tree! I don’t have a favorite tree, but I’m excited that all of my houseplants are emerging from their winter comas and showing signs of new growth! Now if the weather would just warm up!
Karen says
April 3rd, 2018 at 8:09 pmHi Rachel,
Yeah it is. Girl, you gotta find a favorite tree. Next time the weather’s really nice you should go scouting and just designate one. 🙂
Speaking of houseplants, I’d really love to get a large bird of paradise for my living room. And a fiddleleaf. And a palm tree. LOL! Basically all I want is the room to look like a tropical oasis.
Rachel says
April 4th, 2018 at 4:06 amI want a bird of paradise too. They had them at Lowe’s once and I’m kicking myself for not getting one! I have a fiddleleaf fig and I like the size of it, and it’s easier than people say!
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 7:55 amI love it when birds of paradise get huge, and how the leaves get that graceful long arc. We have a good amount of natural light in the living room in the after noon so I think one would thrive in there; I just gotta hunt one down!
How long have you had your fiddleleaf? I’ve heard they’re so touchy.
Lexica says
April 3rd, 2018 at 4:10 pmThe mock orange trees are blooming in my neighborhood and it’s making me SO happy. They smell so beautiful!
Karen says
April 3rd, 2018 at 8:08 pmHi Lexica,
I’m unfamiliar with that tree so I had to look it up. SUPER PRETTY! I wish I could smell one, sigh. What part of the world are you from? I’m in Northern California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s pretty green where I live for most of the year; in the summer the hills turn a golden brown but there’s a lot of other trees that keep the place lush.
Lexica says
April 4th, 2018 at 11:26 amOakland here, just east of Lake Merritt, so we have fairly similar climates. Has the jasmine in your area been going into overdrive too? 🙂
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 1:46 pmYa know, I don’t think there are any in my immediate neighborhood. I used to have a fragrant root beer jasmine in my front yard until the deer ate it. 🙁 It smelled like root beer too… It was the craziest thing!
Are you a Bay Area native or a transplant? I grew up here!
Amy says
April 3rd, 2018 at 6:56 pmWhat a beautiful tree, and I love that it’s your favorite. Growing up, we had a sycamore tree in the back yard that I could climb 50 feet up, hug it, and look out over the neighborhood horizon. Today, we have a giant oak on our side lawn that has a beautifully crown, asymmetrical but somehow perfectly balanced spread, and majestic presence.
Karen says
April 3rd, 2018 at 8:03 pmOh, Amy! I’m imagining your sycamore tree and getting chills. It sounds like it was a wonderful tree to spend time with and share secrets (I’m such a sap!). Didn’t your parents ever freak out about you climbing that high though?
P.S. Oaks are awesome. Our place is surrounded by old oaks and they’re one of the reasons why I felt like this was home when I first saw it.
Amy says
April 4th, 2018 at 11:28 amThank you for loving my childhood tree with me! Interestingly, my parents did not freak out! At all. I only realized how unusual that was when I grew older! How amazing to have oaks all around you. I bet they are beautiful!
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 1:44 pmIt really sounds like the perfect best tree friend to grow up with. I would’ve loved to have spent hours up there dreaming. That’s super cool about your parents! Mine would’ve never let me climb that high, that’s for sure.
We have a several oaks surrounding the circle we live in and I believe one of the neighbors told me once that a number of them (or maybe all of them?) are heritage oaks. We’re up on a hill and apparently the subdivision was once a pasture for cattle, and the oaks have been here for forever. We have two near our place; one outside my living room window (which is also the one Tabs loves to climb when I take him out), which is old and stately, and one in the front which I can see when I look outside my office. It’s a wonderful thing to be surrounded by so much green, really. I lived in SF for so many years and didn’t realize how much I missed being in a place with trees and grass until I moved up into the burbs!
Claudia says
April 4th, 2018 at 2:41 amI have a favorite tree, it is my improved Meyer lemon. And every year it gifts me with only two lemons.? I live in an apartment in Texas with a shaded balcony from April- November so it doesn’t get enough sun sadly. I get a few blooms and they smell divine.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 7:55 amHi Claudia,
Two lemons is better than no lemons, LOL! I bet they’re the best tasting lemons though!
Ruchita says
April 4th, 2018 at 6:54 amWhat a gorgeous tree! It looks like the epitome of spring. We’re still having gray and wintery weather out here so I will live vicariously through these pics for now. 🙂
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 7:51 amWhen does your spring typically start? May? Hold on, girl! You’ll get there.
Ruchita says
April 4th, 2018 at 7:58 amNormally it starts warming up in April, but this year has been weird. Unfortunately I’ve heard meteorologists talk about this being one of the effects of climate change. 🙁 I am going on vacation next week to the Caribbean so I have something to look forward to!
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 8:44 amNICE! How long will you be there? Do you have your eating/drinking plan mapped out yet (I totally would, haha)?
Ruchita says
April 4th, 2018 at 9:45 amWe’ll be in Barbados for 5 days. My husband is really into rum, like some people are into wine. There are a bunch of “rum geeks” from around the world coming to hang out and tour some distilleries. I’m not a rum geek so my plan is to lay on the beach and drink some cocktails. 🙂
I always research the best restaurants in advance, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet for this trip. We leave Sunday, so I still have some time. People say you are on island time once you’re there so I’m taking a more laid back approach this time.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 1:52 pmOoh, hopefully you’ll meet some beach kitties! If you do you MUST take pics so Tabs can scout some new talent. 🙂
How long is the flight from your place?
What I’d give to be on a warm island right now, le sigh. The baby has been crazy lately which then makes Tabs crazy; I swear they’re both plotting against me.
Ruchita says
April 4th, 2018 at 2:48 pmI love seeing kitties on vacation! I should bring some cat treats. 🙂
It’s a couple of hours to Miami and then I think another 3 hours to the island. Luckily not too long!
Sorry you’re having a rough time right now. Hope you get a chance at some quiet time for yourself.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 4:17 pmYou should! Last time we were in Kauai I ended up buying canned food and treats for the hotel kitties. Sometimes El Hub and I talk about going back just to see how they’re doing. LOL! I’ve thought about calling the hotel to check on them. I’M NOT A CAT LADY OR ANYTHING.
The terrible two have officially kicked in. I mean, it’s SO FUN on one hand because she’s super interactive and is learning new things everyday. She also has a funny sense of humor, too, and is quite the prankster. The tantrums have just been so intense for the last few days. I think she gets frustrated because she can’t communicate her needs fully, and she has a very hard time switching gears (don’t we all though). And Tabs looooves to sympathize with her. When she starts crying, he starts mewling. It’s a symphony like unlike any other, LOL! I know I’m gonna miss this time when she’s a teenager and ignoring me. I just have to enjoy the moments, crazy as they are sometimes.
Ruchita says
April 4th, 2018 at 4:49 pmIt’s been about 15 years since I visited Kauai, but I wasn’t a cat lady then. Next time I’m staying in the hotel with all the cats! I don’t see anything wrong with calling to check on the kitties. 🙂
When I think about it, I would be frustrated too if I wasn’t able to express what I was feeling. It must be tough being two year old! That’s so cool that her personality is starting to develop.
Too funny about Tabs joining in! What a sympathetic brother.
Karen says
April 5th, 2018 at 2:45 pmHonestly I think he mostly likes her because she shares her food with him. LOL And she’s very generous with the cat treats. She’ll give him the entire bag if I’m not around to supervise.
I hope you go back to Kauai! The one we stayed at was a Marriott and it was really nice!
Suzanne C says
April 4th, 2018 at 11:22 amI do have a favorite tree. It’s a camellia, just outside my office door. It’s the only one of it’s kind in the world; the man who originally owned our house was a huge gardener and liked to experiment. The blooms are white with a light and dark pink tie-dye look.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 1:47 pmHi Suzanne,
Sounds like a dreamy tree! How special that it’s the only one of it’s kind. I hope that you make a cutting and grow at least a tiny bit of it so that it can always continue its legacy!
Tatiana says
April 4th, 2018 at 12:32 pmThe blossoms on that tree are gorgeous! I want a tree like that in my yard! I think my favorite tree is a gingko. We had one in the backyard of the first house Dear Hubs and I lived in together. It was a female gingko and dropped the smelliest fruit ever! We’ve planted one at every house we’ve lived in since, but made sure we planted male trees.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 1:37 pmI’m so in love with this tree. If we ever move I’m going to plant one in our yard. 🙂
I love the shape of gingko leaves but yeah, the female trees are super stinky!
How are your allergies? My nose is kinda itchy today, which is usually the harbinger of doom.
Tatiana says
April 4th, 2018 at 2:00 pmI started up the seasonal allergy medicines when we got back into town last week. Our male gingko tree is awash in pollen and waiting for a really good breeze to let loose. I usually don’t start to suffer until Mother’s Day, but with everything in bloom right now, (even my rose bush has buds on it) I thought I’d see what would happen if I just started before I got symptoms.
Just curious, do you know what kind of three that is? Is it a flowering cherry or a flowering plum or something else? I’m not that great at identifying plants or trees unless they’re super obvious.
Karen says
April 4th, 2018 at 2:29 pmFunny you should ask because I have no idea. I’m going to take my pic of it down to the gardening stores down the street when I get plants for my lady sanctuary and I’m hoping to get a name. When I find out I’ll tell you, because I really want to know.
You know what helps me with allergies, especially at night? Washing my hair before I go to sleep. I don’t always use shampoo; sometimes I just rinse it out with water. Even just a quick rinse helps remove the pollen that gets stuck in there.
What meds do you take? I do half a Zyrtec typically every other day, which is usually enough until it gets really bad in May. I also do an inhaler which I’m totally blanking on at the moment. It’s the one with the green cap and I get it at Costco in bulk. Helps a ton!
Rachel Runyan says
April 5th, 2018 at 4:13 amWhat a beautiful tree! I see why it’s your favorite.
Mine was our Asian pear tree, because the fruit is so good. The last big wind storm over the winter destroyed 3/4 of it, so I don’t know when it will be back to producing fruit again. I’ll check it this spring and see if we get even a few pears.
I love the Japanese maples we have, too.
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Karen says
April 5th, 2018 at 2:42 pmHi Rachel,
I can only imagine how delicious that fresh fruit was. I’ve only had Asian Pears bought from the store and they were always pretty good to me… I bet getting it right off the tree was incredible!