A blossom petal and a Coalition

 

An early morning neighborhood walk yields a rather spent magnolia petal and a sprig of tamarisk that hasn't come into bloom yet.

Tamarisks are beautiful moisture loving shrubs. As far as I can tell, they seem well behaved in the Bay Area.  But I know better yeah, I've got my eye on them. I've spent a lot of road time traveling through the 
Southwest to another place I've called home; Colorado Springs. They are rampantly out of control in high desert areas clogging waterways and crowding out native plants. 

There is an actual Tamarisk Coalition that restores waterways to healthy conditons- you know you're in trouble when there is an entire organization dedicated to your eradication. 

Another beautiful shrub run amok.