When we arrived in the DR we left behind two feet of snow and bitter cold temperatures.  One of the first things we noticed was the the color of all the flowers along the roads and streets.

 

The bougainvillea that is a flowering bush at home grows into beautiful trees here.

 

This bush grows in almost every color possible...

the bright pink being the most common color and the most brilliant!



We didn't learn the name of this tree but we love the unusual spiked flowers that grow at the top of different branches

 

The "tulip tree" stayed in bloom for several weeks

the poinsettia tree doesn't just bloom at Christmas time, but seems to like the weather when it is a little cooler.

These trees looked like ordinary shade trees until they started to bloom and they were loaded with blossoms

I think the close up explains why we called it a Q-tip tree. 



          We learned a couple of  things about a banana tree: the fruit seems to grow upside down and there is one flower at the bottom of the fruit for the whole bunch of bananas.
    We weren't able to find a bunch of bananas that had the blossom open so we don't know if it opens more than shown here or not.



Of all the amazing trees, our favorite if the brilliant flamboyant



Up close it is amazing to see that the color for the tree is created by thousands of small beautiful flowers.
 

We took dozens of pictures of these trees...none of the photos did justice to the breathtaking scene around every corner.
We will miss all the color and beauty from every part of this country.