Woweee – it’s hot here. After a cooler and wetter than usual season, the summer heat and humidity have finally arrived.
I’ve struggled to run all week. It doesn’t matter how early I get up to run. If I get up before the sun, it’s more humid. If I wait until the sun rises, the humidity starts to drop a little, but then there’s the blasting heat of the sun to contend with.
That’s why I especially love and appreciate trees during the summer: their glorious shade. I can wait for the sun to come up and then run a mostly shaded route. The shade keeps me from getting burned and provides good resting spots so I can catch my breath.
While I’ve been appreciating the shade that trees offer, I have also been thinking about the beautiful and delicious offerings trees give us in summer.
My favorite summer fruit from a tree
Of all the summer fruit, I love peaches the best. When I was little, we loaded up on peaches when we visited my great aunts each summer, and Mom would make an amazing peach cobbler with some and can the rest to last until the following summer. This has spoiled me to the point that I cannot eat store-bought canned peaches. But I do love eating them fresh during summer. I don’t even bother to peel their fuzzy skin.
In the beauty category, nothing tops the showy display of crape myrtles. I realized just yesterday that all of a sudden (at least, it seems sudden to me), the crape myrtles have flowered. The young tree in my front yard hasn’t bloomed just yet, but I drove over to one of my favorite streets in the city to take a few pictures of the crape myrtles in bloom there:
One of my favorite streets near where I live
It’s a narrow, twisty street, with cars usually parked on both sides. So drivers have to be polite to one another and let one car at a time go through the space between the cars (for the most part, drivers are respectful of one another while navigating this road; it’s a free-for-all again on connecting roads). The crape myrtles that adorn the street, though, make it worth the slow drive.
The trees on this particular stretch of the road are mostly dark pink, but I found one darker red one in bloom among the pink.
Red crape myrtle blooms among the mostly pink trees
The largest crape myrtles, like the one below, offer not just beautiful color but also a canopy of shade against the scorching sun.
What summer trees do you love best, and is it for their beauty or for their fruit?
The Flourishing Tree 
And that’s the way I feel about the Poincianas….don’t have too many in Englewood, just a few in the area. The Poincianas in Miami were spectacular and I took pictures of them also. We did have some spectacular crape myrtles in a place called Tangarine Woods. I would have one planted in my yard, but no room left for any trees. E
Oh, I love poincianas! I know what you mean about room for trees. I’m still looking for the perfect place for a fig tree!
oh oooooo, I am so jealous, those crapes are absolutly stunning. they don’t grow that big in ohio, but latly these past 3 years I have had no die back on my crapes even tho I only protect about half of them so now my reddish purple ones are taller then the garage, but that one you have there is enormous and beautiful.
Thanks for stopping by. I’ve seen your blog, and your crape myrtles are definitely taller than mine. The ones I shared here are more established, and I hope someday that mine will be that tall and filled out. I was also excited to see you grow passion flowers, a flower I only discovered last year! They’re so interesting, and I’m curious to know if you have any trouble with them trying to take over your garden.
My husband drove me down a road last week and I have to say it was the most amazing site to come home to. All along the road, on both sides, the crape myrtle trees were in full bloom and they were the deep red ones so they looked spectacular. Weary from the day’s travel, it was a spirit lifter to take in their beauty! It reminded me of Anne of Green Gables, when she drives along “the Avenue” with Matthew and she is so inspired by the beauty of all of the cherry trees that are in bloom she renames it, “The White Way of Delight!” That is kind of what the drive home along ” crape myrtle lane” did for my spirits! = )
Thanks for sharing this story. What a lovely treat to drive home along a “crape myrtle lane.” I’m so glad you noticed the beauty surrounding you.