San Diego needs rain, so the recent storms had only one drawback, as far as I was concerned. All that wind helped to strip off the petals of the flowering pear trees — which are one of the delights of early spring in San Diego.
Flowering pears (Pyrus calleryanna), which are native to eastern Asia, don’t produce any 
actual pears. But every year around the beginning of February they begin bursting into showy white displays. By Valentine’s Day, it usually looks as if they’re decked in lace. When the winds scatter the white petals, it’s about the closest San Diego gets to a dusting of snow.
Then the trees look sturdy but banal, at least until the fall, when the glossy green leaves turn scarlet to purplish and once again contribute to the seasonal color palette.
