Powerhouse Flowerhouse, Oakland

Having been on my block for a full year now, it’s fun to see certain things coming back into bloom in the same places where they first impressed me last year. The giant magnolia flowers mid-block are back. And so is my favorite perennial delight–a house down the block covered with what Brad has identified as bougainvillea. The over-the-topness of this… thing… the road-hazardous distraction of it in all its glory… reminds me of the famous annual Christmas displays in the suburbs of New Jersey. If I ever own a house in a climate conducive to bougainvillea, I’m going to baste the building’s facade with the seeds of this plant like it’s a Chia Pet and set the timer for the first day of summer.

The following is from Wikipedia:
Bougainvillea (pronounced /ˌbuːɡɨnˈvɪliə/)[1] is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The plant was classified by Europeans in Brazil in 1768, by Philibert Commerçon, French Botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage of circumnavigation.

Posted by John on Jun 22nd, 2010 and is filed under Basilog, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.