Flower Friday. : : Oleander

This has never been my favorite plant. I always associate it with freeways where it used to be used as a landscaping plant. For some reason, and there probably is one but I'm not privy to such arcane knowledge, it is no longer planted next to highways. In fact most roads have nothing but an ugly 'sound wall' next to them. (They built one in Berkeley, but instead of shielding residents from freeway noise, the sound wall somehow magnified it and projected it into a nearby neighborhood.) I suspect if I asked, I would be told that there is no money to plant or care for plants, despite the fact that billions of  dollars and decades of dangerous diversions and mess are spent on widening highways that take so long to build that the traffic is just as bad by the time they finally finish.

But I digress. These plants, growing next to a fence were totally destroyed in the fire, but have come back to provide a nice screen from the burned trees and the forever-being-built house above us. I'm beginning to like it better if only for its resilience! As a child I was always made aware that this plant was very poisonous and I would never go near it,  but it turns out that practically every plant in the garden is said to be toxic in some way or other. Since I never had cause to eat the leaves, the toxicity of oleanders was never put to the test. 

Today is Dana's birthday which she is spending at the Four Seasons resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She said their Covid tests, administered on arrival, were negative so they are free to leave their room, but  she saw no reason to leave the most beautiful room she had ever stayed in with it's own private pool and snacks awaiting them upon arrival. She sent a selfie with Jim to prove it.* Happy birthday, Dana! You certainly know how to celebrate!