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A Publication of EverGreen, the Tree Treasurers of Charlotte County PO Box 495091 Port Charlotte, FL 33949
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AH, SPRING! by Louise Raterman Lap up the Full Spring of Florida! The oaks have releafed greenly and sweetly. Along the roadways you can spot the new Christmas green of the Slash Pines. Too, the pine trees have decorated themselves with candles - the flowerets of new needles. From your car you can distinguish a variety of greennesses. The color of the willows is a misty sea foam green. Reminiscent of true pussy willows, the feminine Florida willows are drowsy now with round downy flowers. The wax myrtles shine anew in olive green. The cypresses are regaining their leaves. They are emerald and rich in texture - this is the time to take a canoe trip to visit them. The coral bean is a unique Florida tree scarcely known. A small tree, its tubules of pink blush blooms peek out from trees in the woods' landscape. These special plants are part of what is erased when lots are bulldozed for houses or parking lots. Never have I seen one planted as a replacement tree. Nearer the ground, lyre-leaved sages peek up in congregation of purple. Coral honeysuckle, a native honeysuckle, has lovely effusion of drooping creamy sunset-warm colorets. Its blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Low lying lobelia veils the earth in purple coverlet. The butterfly milkweed, which provides food for caterpillars, contributes orange. A Florida meadow pink - our spring beauty - dots swales not obscured by sod. The climbing Cherokee white rose has opened petals and the small ruellia flowers fragilely keen like violets. Twinflower and blue spiderwort play visual music where they are not mowed. And the Indian blanket flower - the bright and frilled gaillardia - grows at waste places and beneath stop signs. The early painted poinsettias are wild with lipstick. We are blessed with an abundance of pure Florida brilliance to soothe and stimulate. Even the non-native trees have burst into flower: the large lilac hued jacaranda, the unmistakable lemon yellow Gold Tree, fragrant jasmine and gardenia, red bottle brush, in unison with the earth's requirement for splendor, acquiesce. One daffodil surprises my garden, strange transient! Tangles of golden coreopsis are more accustomed to the narcotic Florida sun. In the woods, the bay blooms and, for quail, aromatic purple pennyroyals flower. Earth says rejoice, new life!
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