. . . we have a bloom. I thought I was seeing things when I hosed down the Giant bird of paradise in our yard. A flower? After the fire? It’s the first bloom in a year and a half. Not as dramatic as the orange flowers on this regular bird of paradise …
but I like the off-white, blue and black against the green:
Things are slowly getting back to normal. It rained just a little bit and washed more of the soot away. There aren’t quite so many fire restoration trucks in the street and the smell of smoke is nearly gone.
Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post. I appreciate them so much. While we were evacuated, I received so many texts, calls and emails on my phone and they were really comforting.
Great weekend everyone. . . .
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 
I am longing this spectacular plants to be on my yard, yes some day I must have it. Seeing these pictures is comforting me also. Thank you very much for sharing your stunning photos with us. Best wishes!
Thank you for the visit and comment!
How amazing! Enjoy this bloom and all it represents after such a long and scary week!
Thanks, Jackie. 🙂 It was nice to see a sign of life after everything else.
Nature is amazing. As scary as it can get – there’s so much beauty too.
I love that second flower. I’ve never seen it in that color.
I’m glad to hear things are getting back to normal. I hope it doesn’t smell inside of the house. Such an unpleasant smell.
I had never seen a Giant bird of paradise before I moved to California, Caroline. I didn’t like the flower at first, but I do now.
Fortunately, we had closed up the house before evacuating, so no smoke odor inside. There have been smoke damage trucks in the neighborhood all week, so quite a few weren’t so lucky. We can smell smoke when the wind blows in from the canyon, but it’s getting weaker.
beautiful and colorful 🙂
Thank you. 🙂