Please CLICK image then “All Sizes” to enlarge
I don’t know what kind of tree these came from, do you? Actually I drew the parts of two identical trees that are next to each other in my neighborhood. The only difference is that one has impossibly pink flowers and the other has impossibly bright orange flowers. I planned to draw both but discovered I was allergic to them and in order to finish more quickly combined their parts in one picture. Then I had to take a Claritin.
When I asked the neighbor if I could take a cutting from his tree to paint he said I could take the whole tree. He hates them because they bloom all year and constantly drop horrible stuff on his car: sticky sap, sticky little orange stringy parts of the flowers, and the hard seed pods (I know I’m using all the wrong names of the parts, sorry). He showed me the huge stump of the one he’d already cut down. Looking at the mess I had to clean up on my drawing table, I know what he’s talking about.
But the bees and hummingbirds love these trees. In the afternoon its swarming with bees and in the early evening it’s filled to capacity with chirping hummingbirds. I hope he doesn’t cut down the others. They’re stunningly beautiful and our neighborhood doesn’t have enough trees. Here’s some photos of the tree parts:
Drawn with Lamy Safari Pen, Noodler’s Ink & watercolor in Aquabee Super Deluxe sketchbook
Jana Bouc, Artist 
8 replies on “What kind of tree am I?”
well, they’re definately from Oz, probably red flowering gum from western australia (E. ficifolia) and the pink one is just a variation – in Canberra we have them in a bush form but they are a bit frost sensitive so I have never tried them. Lovely sketch anyway
LikeLike
Jana,
They are varieties of Eucalyptus. The pink flowering one is fairly common, would need to look at the structure, and bark to idintify it exatcly, but the orange flowering one is not so common, still looks to be a Eucalyptus though. If I get a chance today I will see if I can look it up at work, and let you know.
LikeLike
BEAUTIFUL SKETCH!!! And very interesting tree … Would love to know the name too!
LikeLike
Don’t know what they are but I immediately thought ‘Oz’! They are amazing and I love your painting especially how you’ve done the leaves.
LikeLike
These trees are certainly gorgeous!! Love the way you sketched all available hints. Sounds like Tami knows.
LikeLike
I was going to chime in with Mimosa Tree, which also bloom all year round (around here) and the flowers are very pink and a very similar flower. The leaves on the Mimosa look a little more ferny though. So I will agree, this is most likely a Eucalyptus. I really like the way you drew and painted this, the flowers look like firecrackers that just exploded! Very vibrant and love the deep color saturation!
LikeLike
Eucalyptus ficifolia, most likely – AKA red flowering gum
http://www.cuyamaca.edu/oh170/Thumbnail_Pages/Eucalyptus_ficifolia.asp
And you’ve done a marvelous job of drawing them!
LikeLike
They are indeed eucalyptus. They may attract hummingbirds and other nectar feeding insects, but they often kill native California birds because the birds don’t have the ability to deal with the very sticky sap, and they can suffocate. Eucalyptus are also a plague on native vegetation. Cut ’em down!
LikeLike