Japan will be getting colder as mid-winter approaches, but here in Australia, in the southern hemisphere, mid-summer is on its way and we are about to see the flowers reach their peak. Tropical flowers begin blooming everywhere at this time on the Gold Coast where I live. You can see a variety of flowers, from frangipani, known by the name “plumeria” in Japan, to hibiscus, a typical tropical flower, and other beautiful, showy flowers in bright purples and pinks. And as the Christmas season approaches, the flame tree reaches full bloom. It’s called the flame tree because when the red, bell-shaped flowers are in full bloom, the tree looks as if it is all aflame, burning. Streets lined with flame trees are like tunnels of red flame when they’re in full bloom, which presents a bold sort of beauty, somewhat different to pale pink cherry blossoms.
I took a walk around my neighborhood to see the beautiful flowers and was surprised once more to find so many frangipani trees. Frangipanis look subdued in the winter, with just their branches, but here and there I could see they had already put out their beautiful flowers. I found so many frangipani trees it was as though there was one for every house. There were all sizes, from some shorter than me to large ones. And from a low hedge, showy hibiscus flowers showed their faces. There were many other flowers in bloom, making the streets very colorful.

Flame Tree
A low tree that spreads out and has beautiful red bell-shaped flowers. This one is still only half in bloom, but at the peak, the red flowers cover the whole tree making it appear to be burning bright red. It’s a beautiful tree that represents the red of Christmas.





Frangipani
I just love frangipanis, they’re so adorable, and so soothing to look at. As you pass by a frangipani tree, you smell the sweet tropical fragrance of its flowers. I sometimes take flowers that fell from the trees still in beautiful condition back home and float them on water in a bowl. A lot of people have frangipani trees in their home gardens, and the city council (a public organization like a town hall or a city hall) also plants frangipanis in public areas, so you can see beautiful flowering frangipanis in all sorts of places around the neighborhood. The photo at top right shows a frangipani that was recently planted by my neighbor, but even such a small tree has beautiful flowers.





Hibiscus
The colors of hibiscus flowers vary from bright red to white, pink, yellow, and orange, and so do the shapes of the flowers and the sizes of the pistils and stamens, all of which have their individual, eye-catching features. Some flowers are even about as big as your face. Just walking around my immediate neighborhood, I came across this many kinds of hibiscus.





There were even flowers that look like hibiscus flowers.



I also found a plant with flowers like frangipanis (plumeria). The flowers really do look as though the petals had just fallen and landed on the plant.