What's That Smell?

Returned from a trip to Mexico Beach on Monday to be greeted in our driveway by an odor I couldn't quite place. At first I thought it was the usual teen daughter over use of "smell goods." She would admit only to a fruit scented deodorant. Later, on a dog walk I smelled it again and thought it was just dryer sheets as I could tell that a couple people on the block were doing laundry. But the smell, which I had finally decided was thorougly pleasant, persisted when we walked past the baseball fields.

On Thursday, my long walk to take alley pictures yielded the answer. All over Port Tampa the Yellow Elder(Yellow Bells, Tecoma stans) is in bloom.

In one of my favorite books, Tough Plants for Florida Gardens, Felder Rushing describes the flower as lightly fragrant. However, we have so many in absolutely full, gorgeous bloom right now it is easy to find an established plant by following your nose. I shouldn't have been surprised to find out that Tecoma stans is native to west Texas and New Mexico as our dry season seems to bring out the best in what here is a small tree rising to over twenty feet. (Apparently it can be a spindly little thing out west.)

If you're interested in planting a tree in your yard I highly recommend taking a look at 100 Florida trees you should plant instead of oak, and the exchange of comments. While you're there take a look at Smitty's post on his recent Everglades trip, I really enjoyed it.