Drive-by shooting

tabebuia in my neighborhood
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I was on my way to work this morning, zoning out while driving down the same road I always take to work and then, BAM! Where did that come from?

All of a sudden there was a tree I'd never noticed before in bloom with these striking yellow flowers. Being the plant geek that I am, I had to turn around and take a picture.

I'm pretty sure this tree is in the genus Tabebuia, though I'm not sure of the species (maybe T. aurea, which used to be T. caraiba). These trees are native to areas further south, and it's somewhat unusual to see them this far north (though we do have several other specimens here in Gainesville).

At any rate, I just wanted to share this ray of sunshine with everyone, even if the sky in the back of the photo looks a bit gray.