02.11.06

California smells

Posted in Travel at 12:11 by RjZ

This time of year it’s yellow in Colorado. In the foothills and plains beneath the Front Range, it’s not a snowy wonderland that everyone from outside imagines it to be. It almost never snows in town and when it does, the sun usually melts it the same day. Instead, weather systems move in from the west over the mountains and as they rise up above the tall peaks they cool off and the snow falls on the peaks long before it gets to us. In defense of the cold, the trees lose their leaves and the grass turns yellow and dormant.

I grew up in California though. In California it’s brown during the hot summer. Right now in winter, though, it is the greenest time of the year. I had forgotten all about that until I visited Silicon Valley, in central California, this week. California is positively fragrant. The weather, especially nearer to the coast is so mild and sunny all year round that a huge range of plants can grow there. The Silicon Valley area is anything but wild so non-indigenous plants from all over the world have been brought in.

Growing up in California can be disappointing when you travel. There are places people visit just to see the wonderful flora that are native. The Canary Islands have the Dragon tree, and exotic tree that looks like it’s from prehistoric times and is often called the Stradivarius tree because it’s dark red sap was used to stain the famous violins. These trees are common in California. The Norfolk Island pines really are from prehistoric times. Native to New Zealand and Australia they’re common in California yards. The African coral tree has dangerous thorns on it’s branches and abundant flowers that look like orchids. No need to go to Africa though, it’s commonly planted on wide streets between opposing directions of traffic. I remember visiting the island Mainau in the middle of Bodensee in Germany. So many Germans had recommended this island for it’s exotic plants but when we arrived there it looked like any California neighborhood and we could hardly tell what all the fuss was about until we got back to regular Germany and remembered that most Germans had never seen such an array of vegetation.

Even from within the air-conditioned rental car I could smell the eucalyptus trees. These rapidly growing trees are plentiful in California where the thrive all too well. They were chosen because they grow so quickly, but unfortunately their strong smell comes from the famous eucalyptus oil that is fatal to all the plants around them. If you see these huge trees in California, you’ll notice that there is rarely much grass beneath them. It can’t survive! Worse still, the oil is highly flammable. Eucalyptus trees don’t burn, they explode!

When I got out of the car for my meeting I was nearly overwhelmed by the wonderful smell and the memories brought back by the honeysuckle. Honeysuckle is a delicious smelling shrub and a very popular decorative plant for it’s year round green and long blooming season with small tubular and fragrant yellow flowers. Unsurprisingly, bees love them.

My meeting was at the offices of a Menlo Park venture capital firm. There were drinks before we got down to business and they are rightly proud of their local wines. I had a rather fruity berry-like red. I’d like to tell you that you could taste the sunshine in the glass but it sounds too snooty. (Well, honestly, I guess I did just tell you that.)

That evening, back at the hotel I walked through an arbor with geraniums and gardenias. Gardenias are wonderfully fragrant white flowers that practically glow in the dark. They ought to. As is common for white flowers, they are pollinated by moths, which unlike their butterfly relatives, only come out at night. Colors are harder to make out under star and moonlight, and so anything other than white would be wasted, but their fragrance is so powerful I am sure the moths have no trouble at all finding them.

I left today, but on the way to the airport I could actually smell the curry, cumin and mustard seed emanating from the five Indian restaurants I passed in less than four miles of driving. This isn’t some literary metaphor. I really could smell curry in the car! The delicious fragrance demanded I stop for buffet. I was excited by the over ten vegetarian choices at the buffet and tried to sample as many of them as I could pack into my stomach. I think I may have had too much, but it was worth it.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the packed roads of Silicon Valley didn’t also smell of traffic and exhaust, but California has the tightest limits on vehicle pollution in the nation and it’s not nearly as bad as one might expect given the sheer quantity of cars on the road.

All those cars and people, the hazy cast to the marine layer gives to the sky and those four months of brown without any of the fun of our snow covered mountains doesn’t make me miss California much, but it was nice to remember that California doesn’t stink, it smells!

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