Its bloom time in Long Beach

Living in Long Beach has its unique advantages for a photographer. You can drive to multiple amazing locations along the Southern California coast. The Grand Prix in April, the amazing winter sunrises, and Summer Sunsets are something unique to Long Beach.

But May / June means purple colors in Long Beach. Throughout the city, multiple streets burst into purple blooms courtesy of the Jacaranda trees. It’s kind of like a yearly tradition for photographers in the City, including me, to photograph the same. There are even some contests on Instagram for the best Jacaranda Photos. I am blessed to live very near to a street that is lined with them.

These trees are technically not native to California. They were planted when developers planted these during the middle of the century. The homeowners in the streets where these are have a love-hate relationship with these trees. On one hand, the streets look magical, but I understand it is a pain to clean them off the property.

I read an interesting fact about these trees from the LA times. When you step on the flowers they make a sticky mess. These are not from the nectar or the sap but rather it is caused by the secretions from the insects that feed on these flowers.

I was taking this photo when a home owner noticed me and we had a fun converstaion about the merits and demerits of living in a street with Jacarands. His tip to me was to be careful when stepping on the flowers due to the stickness. He also mentioned that they wash right off as well so it is a bit of a pain but that is the price to pay for living in a street with these beautiful flowers. He was cleaning his car and offered to make it look like it was raining when i was taking the photo as well.