Catalpa

[asakiyume]

You know personal ceremonies or festivals, things you end up celebrating, year after year, just as an individual (or maybe, say, as a group of friends, or a family)--in other words, something that's not a broader cultural thing?

One of mine is the blossoming of the catalpa. SUCH A GLORIOUS TREE, with blossoms that look like they belong in tropical garlands (well, they are a bit pale, but so **fancy**), that rain down onto the street.

Here is the tree--can you see it is twice as tall as the rooming house it towers over?



And here are the blossoms, fallen on the street and grass



The blossoms wear different colors of makeup to attract the bees. Some like a red-purple, like the one over on the lower left:



Some go for golden-orange highlights:



And every year, I string them on long strands of grass and hang them up somewhere in the house.



Happy catalpas, everyone!

Comments

[duccio.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's a great event to celebrate.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I enjoy it every year!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

They look like baby orchids; how beautiful!

Happy Catalpas!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

:D

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

Is the leaf in the bottom photo also from the catalpa tree?

That's certainly a blossoming to celebrate!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

No; the catalpa leaves are big, but not that big. That's a burdock leaf.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

It's good to see someone loving catalpa trees for their beauty and goodness. When I was a little girl, my parents' only parking space was under a catalpa tree, so every time it flowered, sap and aphids and aphid droppings covered the car and made it sticky for weeks. I learned to think of catalpa trees as these giant producers of messiness, and nothing else. But they are beautiful, aren't they?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They are! (But I would not want to clear the sap off my car, either…)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*basks in the beauty of the catalpas and your posts*

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

*shines fragrant blossoms down on you*

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Happy catalpas day!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

blossoms for everyone!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

What astonishingly beautiful flowers! They kind of remind me of the orchids a few of the neighbors having growing in pots around here.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's like a whole tree that blooms in orchids!

Nature's Beauty

[docdad2.livejournal.com]

Beauty - All from a tree. My celebration is the autumnal colors - a few months from now. Yes, I will post pictures as well.
D

Re: Nature's Beauty

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I will look forward to those beautiful photos!

[egg-shell.livejournal.com]

A friend and I were out walking last week and saw all those beautiful flowers strewn around and wondered what they were - thanks for the ID!

Do the flowers dry well on the grass and keep?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

They dry a deep red-purple color but all crinkled up. They keep an echo of their fragrance, but they're not beautiful in the way that dried roses are. I've saved last year's, but eventually I'll discard them. I wonder if I tried preserving the blossoms in oil, whether the fragrance would transfer….

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Is it customary in your neck of the woods to call the long seed pods "cigars"?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You know, I never hear anyone talking about catalpas except me! And although this area is full of them, and although I grew up only two hours west, I never really noticed/saw them as a kid, which is when I expect I would have heard that name. So, short answer: no. But I really like it. What magnificent long cigars they do make.

[wuweibaby.livejournal.com]

How do you string them on the long grass? They're lovely.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They have a tiny hole at their top--where they were attached to their flower cluster on the tree--and I poke the grass stem through that, and then just stack one on top of the next.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I can picture a whole Catalpa Day where you invite friends over for a picnic and offer them leis or crowns made of catalpa blossoms to wear while you dine and play and chat.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I really have to *do* that next year. That would be so fun.

ETA: In fact, I'm going to mark it on my calendar so I don't forget!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

That is a great idea. I can't wait for Catalpa Day pictures and résumé!