More Colors of the Season

It's not the Holidays without Poinsettias!  Or Euphorbia pulcherrima if you please.

Just some more reds and greens - this is salvia and verbena.

And the Bottlebrush tree.

Here's the Mandevilla in all its bright red glory.

The Begonia is looking lush right after getting a big drink from the sprinklers.

Here's the neighbors Crown of Thorns plant - I didn't use to really like this, but it has grown on me after seeing so much of it next door, lol.

I see a lot of magnolia leaves and pods used in Holiday decorations, so I'm just going to go ahead then and include it here along with the reds and greens...

And here's Mrs. C., that stands for Chirpy and Cardinal - she doesn't have much red on her, but in this shot her beak stands out so nicely against all the green leaves.

Now this - this you don't want in your garden.  It's  Schinus terebinthifolius or more commonly known as the Brazilian Pepper tree.  It is really very pretty, but is an aggressive invader and a non-native introduced for its ornamental qualities.  If you think you have one, you might want to Google it and see the best way to remove it as it is in the Sumac family and might cause you reaction somewhat like poison ivy, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.  And it's easily spread, so you don't want to just cut it down and throw it on the curb - it needs to be disposed of properly.  Anyway - it's red and green and that's why it's in this post!  And if I have in any way help to spread the word of this bad addition to our ecosystem - I have done my good deed for the day!

This is just a funky shot of Chirpy the Cardinal that I edited in one of the programs - it wasn't a great shot, but thought I'd just mess around with it.  He's so gorgeous in any season.