Growing up in Minnesota, I’ve always equated Christmas with freezing cold weather. Freezing cold weather usually means you don’t see flowers in the ground. You see snow as you are running from the heat of your vehicle to the heat of the house. Well, the weather is quite a bit different here in California. These folks plant poinsettia’s in the ground. The first time I saw it, I was certain that they were fake, but they weren’t. Every time we walked around Old Pasadena, I kept doing double takes as we walked by them. It was seriously freaking me out! It is beautiful, for the record, and quite festive.

I took this picture the day after Christmas when we stopped at Dana Point for lunch. I loved that they planted the poinsettia’s in the regular beds with all the rest of the plants. I suppose they will pull them all up and toss them now that the holidays are over. The thought doesn’t really bother me because our poinsettia’s never lasted that long anyway. Are they known to be hard to care for? They remind me of Boston ferns, I kill them every time.

Definitely one of the highlights of living here are all the plants. My goal is to learn more about how to grow things here… the climate and soil is completely different than anywhere I’ve ever lived. There are so many beautiful areas with lush landscaping. It sometimes feels like the whole town is an arboretum. I love it!