Those gorgeous colors of fall
Missing New England today
Lisbon does not make many of the Where To See Fall Foliage lists. In fact, fall foliage; cool, crisp weather; and Halloween are what I miss most about living in Portugal. My first fall here was a season of disappointment. In my fourth fall, I do fine with it - but if I see a photo of gorgeous fall foliage, oh how I pine!
But wait! Just yesterday I stumbled into (no, not literally) this tree! Look at that lovely teeny tiny band of yellow between the green and the brown! Ahhh, Fall!
Seriously, while the majority of the trees here just lose their leaves in a shower of brown, we do get a bit more colorful….
That is not to say we do not have color!
The plants on the left are oleander and have been blooming since mid-summer! The trees on the right are Ceiba speciosa, or silk floss tree.
A native of Brazil, silk floss trees first came to Europe to Nice, France in the beginning of the 19th century. An odd choice of location, given that the tree is from a Portuguese colony!1 Turns out it was discovered by a French botanist. We do know that it had made it to Portugal by 1877, when we have a record of the Coimbra Botanical Garden sending some seeds to Paris.2
It blooms from September to November. In October and November it creates a lovely carpet of pink. Interestingly, it waits until its foliage drops before the blooms burst forth.3 It is much loved by hummingbirds, hence its name of Hummingbird Tree in Brazil. Alas and alack, hummingbirds are only found in the Americas.
Ouch!
Lest you think the only attraction is the two month bloom, the trunk is fabulously fun. I’d love to see it with a little dusting of snow, but if we had that, it likely wouldn’t grow!
But wait! There’s more!
The plant puts out a seed pod4 (which I am disappointed to report I have yet to find!), which hardens, and pops open as it dries. The interior of the pod is filled with kapok fiber which can be used for stuffing mattresses and pillows. Beauty and comfort - what’s not to love?
I’ll leave you with a restful scene
That’s all for now.
Love from Lisbon,
Amy
Weather Report
Today’s high is 66 and the low 63. We are partly cloudy.
We have definitely entered fall this past week. The humidity has shot up, and we’re having periods of rain (sometimes quite heavy), clouds, and sun.
Brazil achieved independence from Portugal in 1822.
Historical information from amensagem.pt.
A tree may lose leaves on only the lower branches, which then burst into bloom, while the rest of the tree hasn’t lost its leaves yet. Looks like it can’t make up its mind!
The tree is one of the few that create these kapok pods.
Amy, love your lessons in botany! I see some of these plants every day but only today I've learnt their names! When I first saw a silk floss tree it was just in front of the Zoo and I thought there were artificial flowers put on the trees (my mind refused to believe that there were trees blooming in October ;)
This was lovely. I have a lookalike, not the same leaf. It was one on the other…I’ll post in my notes and reference this post.