Mighty "Flamboyan" tree

ismael · Jul 3, 2004

Hi,

I have always admired the mighty Flamboyan tree. A tropical tree common in the Caribbean. During the summer, it flourishes in red, and for a few days it is totally covered in brilliant red. It is a very strong tree. Not only it withstands hurricanes, but the roots can lift sidewalks and can destroy concrete structures in just a few years. Contractors and builders hate it. The sky hasn't been very blue these days, and I was fearing I was going to miss this year's window waiting for a blue sky. So I took this picture this morning. As you can see it already started turning green again. There are other variations like the yellow in the second picture. The pics were taken with my trusty Pentax K-100, 28-80 Takumar lens on Kodacolor 200 film (leftover from a party last week). My scanner is a cheap one, so it looks better in the print than in the scan. This is the first time I post a picture here. Any comments?

Thanks,
Ismael

LaFoto · Jul 4, 2004

Wow, these trees are quite impressive!
The first photo shows nicely how large they become, like an umbrella giving shade not only to the front garden but also to the street in front of the house and the neighbours' gardens! Lovely in full bloom - and next year you will catch this for us when the leaves are not out yet, will you?

And the second with its contrasting colours of red and yellow, with the little green of the new leaves and some blue of the sky is nice to look at, too. Reminds me of the "Lapachos" I've heard about (never seen though), that grow in Paraguay (may well grow elsewhere, too, but it was a Paraguayan who told me about them, showed me photos of them and gave me a handpainted canvas of one of them).