Usually I take photos of the flowers here like this trumpet vine flower ....
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SbEuHAN7Q-1HBJUN3hcKxCum7kvVOdTHJGMaKG6SQr_JtOAhWBCwnVC_zbjHKUqfreRDz7JtCh3KLy59aVIZQeIDrHNASpq6hcOO102SLaSutnYmboiPBAaw6N4MariMaEPg9pjhEGt6/s400/trumpetflower.jpg)
But it's not representative of what it's like here at all. Mostly the yard is made up of a whole bunch of trees all scrunched together, with some of them dead. The acacia tree, the modesto ashes, the boxelder, and the walnut tree, were here when my family bought the house, but my parents planted some too - the orange tree, the plum trees, and two pine tress that had been our live Christmas trees - and I planted two little sequoia trees myself,. A lot of the trees are 'volunteers' which just sprouted up on their own, like the pecan tree, the cottonwood trees, the privet trees, and the many oak trees (oaks are protected in California). Here below is a fallen dead plum tree, and a dead cottonwood tree that would fall but is being held up by surrounding trees ......
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3j6hMYGKvhoWg8z39OvQyldTRVpg1xJdaBPOpeVkBXuuvvG4ymu3vdAVTdc1szRZgR780Lj4qIAbm3kWvuMcMN9OA9XV2OcX3Y_shUdcCSF9OgZtxHn-iUlmJsvnLUd9rqtJdlDaLrMr/s400/plumtree.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxxq1VXzTlphRMeasFtHxaf-rQrelI_gJISe4y-nMEC7GOARKH7EL5ft2jWo5Zfl8pHVRJS6k0fBtnRyQTU6isItISmsU_aSbvVGMOhrG4mGO_LWp9fYIIxX__QJfWNFT9WgE-TfXTWsz/s400/cottonwood.jpg)