Garden Pic Wednesday: Pine Tree Flowers!
I'm waiting for rice to steam to go with my leftover Gyoza right now, so why not work on today's post? I know the pine trees around here do flower---I see the evidence in the form of yellow pollen coating the windshields of cars and everything else. That's where pine cones come from. But because they are so high up, who ever thinks of what they look like? Then the other day, I was looking out the back door and noticed the nearest, lowest pine tree branch was loaded with blooms that looked bluish-purple. I thought, "Wow, I should take a picture and have a closer look." The sun was shining on one blossom just right, so I got out the camera and took this shot of these surprisingly attractive pine flowers: This pine is native throughout the southern coast and is called a "Slash Pine" or "Swamp Pine." And bears these bluish-purple flowers! Most are 60 to 100 feet in the air, so not exactly in plain sight. I just happen to have ...