Silk Floss Tree (a tree in Pasadena)

These are NOT in my yard. They're in the Asian sculpture garden at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.

At first I saw poof of stuff and thought it might be a nest for some sort of bugs, or that it was a tree parasite. But looking at others, it's the opened pod of seeds, it seems. And the trunks of some of them had bumps, and some bumps were like thorns, but some had a hole (like a boil that had been popped) and some parts were smoother, and some trees had more bumps.

I had never seen anything like any of it.

The blossoms reminded me a bit of the redbud tree people identified for me last year.




Most blew up round and fluffy, but this one looked like fingers, or teats on an udder.





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Karen James and Zann Carter both knew, or found it.

Thanks, Karen and Zann! That's it. Google said (on the side bar of a search)

Ceiba speciosa

The silk floss tree, is a species of deciduous tree native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. It has a host of local common names, such as palo borracho. It belongs to the same family as the baobab and the kapok.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceiba_speciosa

Scientific name: Ceiba speciosa
Higher classification: Ceiba
Rank: Species

Redbud Tree

I see I quit numbering, at 35, a while back. That's okay. I don't care enough anymore to try to get to 100, but it's fun to try to track the lives of some of the floral creatures in our yard.

Last year I didn't know this was a redbud tree. I asked on facebook for help, and several very nice people ID'd it.
This year it's five feet high with lots of blossoms. Last year it had its first blossom and was 3.5' tall. Last year: http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/volunteer-tree-my-back-yard.html and on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/SandraDoddABQ/posts/251703271593053

Purple with flowers on the ends

In April 2012 I asked on facebook about a plant someone gave me. In January 2013, I found a message in a folder called http://www.houseplantsguru.com/setcreasea-purpurea, from someone nice named Toddy, who sent me this link. Setcreasea purpurea.

Now I need to find the photo. I looked through all my facebook entries in early 2012 and didn't see it. In India, in the housing society where Pushpa lives, there was landscaping, and there were long areas full of that plant, right outside. So last summer (2012) I planted some outside in the planter outside our room (SW of the hot tub, north of the lilacs) and it was very happy. I expect the winter will have killed it, but I have some more inside the house.

Here it is:

http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2012/04/purply-houseplant.html