PHOTO ESSAY
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
The scent of spring is distinct. A seasonal refresher full of tiny explosions, buds of new growth.
Earth reveals the flowers of its no longer dormant seeds, the sky fills the air with mist and drizzles.
Spring smells different wherever you are. In northern California it smells like eucalyptus, sage and poppies. The aroma of moisture meeting dry ground and of salted air.
A May walk along the shores of Inverness,CA.
Photos by Elevine Berge.
The Lemon eucalyptus or Spotted gum (right), a species of Corymbia, form the most fragrant groves along the coastline. With its sheltering canopies of rustling narrow leaves, and dramatically peeling trunks, they are such a special sight and a complete sensory experience.
The Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga, below), so freshly fragrant in is own way, is often one of the tallest trees we can see in a forest, and this conifer type is also one of the longest living. If a douglas fir gets to live until an age of 100 years or older, it can often withstand wildfire due to the thickness of its bark.
Sticky monkey-flower (Diplacus aurantiacus) is also known as orange bush monkey-flower or Central coast monkey, and brightens up the coastal brushland with its glowing flowers all along its native West Coast.
The California Poppy, also known as Cup of Gold or California Sunlight, is a species of Golden Poppies (Eschscholzia).
