Wonderfulicious Wednesday - some nuggets for this week.

Saw this Begonia as I walked into Trader Joe's yesterday.

I haven't had a plant call out to me in

awhile; seemed apropos on

my birthday week.

Finally, a little rain yesterday. While

 some areas got enough rain to flood, the

rain here was a mere surface wetting.

I discovered the leaf, above, dried in a book.

I don't know where the leaf came from or

why I stuck it in a book but when it showed

up in my life it felt like a gift from the past.

I had to photograph it. 

This morning the yard was full of 

gifts from yesterday's wind. 

The beautiful bunch of leaves, above, is from

the Calliandra vine. And below . . .

a mystery leaf.

The cluster of leaves, above, is from 

the Tipu tree that has

quadrupled in height this

year, much to the dismay

of the gardener who recently

told me he wishes he'd pruned

more off it last year.

The growth of this tree in

8.5 years is nothing short

of phenomenal,