Los Angeles’ Official Trees Are Blooming! 

No, not the Palm Trees! Believe it or not, the Palm Tree is not LA’s official tree, although its image is closely associated with the City of Angels. LA’s official tree is the “Coral Tree” (or Erythrina Caffra), a tree that can grow up to sixty feet in height, with impressive twisting limbs and spreading canopies. Coral trees start blooming late in the winter and their brilliant orange-scarlet blooms grow through much of the spring. A mature coral tree in full flower is quite a spectacular sight. So imagine what it’s like to drive the five-mile stretch of San Vicente Boulevard, on the West side of LA, when the 120 coral trees planted along its wide median are in full bloom! Too bad it’s quite a busy road so you can’t drive too leisurely, as other drivers may kill you! Well, not really… 🙂 San Vicente Boulevard happens to run just a block South of my house in Brentwood, so as I walked around looking for things to photograph for my daily post, I came upon these magnificent trees and decided they would be the subject of today’s post.