Plant: Empress tree and Catalina cherry tree.........

I am a plant enthusiast...by it I mean to be familiar with every plant I come across..that's my way of bonding with nature...

When I moved to San Diego county, after living two years in Orange county, I had expected to see many new plant species..

In fact, I got disappointed in that regard..

I got two see only two new species..yes, only two!!

An empress tree..........

and a Catalina island cherry......

I should have realized that both these counties of South California share almost same climatic and edaphological characters...and their botanical profile will largely overlap...

Anyway, I loved both these trees... empress tree for its large heart-shaped leaves and profusion of pale purple flowers..the wild cherry tree for its deep green leaves and red fruit clusters...