Lots of Christmas-y photos going around, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

The December issue of National Geographic had a nice article on the Russian Thistle, better known as the tumbleweed, symbol of the American desert southwest. In the table of contents, they had a nice picture of a giant Christmas tree built entirely of tumbleweeds. Where? Chandler. Right next door to where I live.

It's not every day that you learn about something local in an international publication, so I figured it was worth a look.



Indeed it was a big tree made of tumbleweeds. It's 35 feet tall, and it's made of 1,500 to 2,000 tumbleweeds attached to a wire frame. Tumbleweeds are very common here (I've been hit by them before ), so I'm sure the city had no trouble collecting enough to make this huge tree. It's also covered in 65 pounds of glitter, 25 gallons of white paint, and 20 gallons of flame retardant. Because, you know, the real sparkly white stuff is not so common around here.



It sure is prickly. You won't find any cats trying to climb this one.



Well, there's my little contribution to the holiday spirt. Have a merry day!

[slowpez]

What a great idea Chandler had. Nice shots of an unusual tree. TFS and Merry Christmas.

[scratchpaddy]

What a great idea Chandler had. Nice shots of an unusual tree. TFS and Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you, too, Susan! I've just learned that they've built a tumbleweed tree every year since 1957.

[OrchidJulie]

Lemons and lemonade, I suppose! Here one sees a lot of holiday lights on palm trees.

Best of the holidays to you!

[Michael Piziak]

Lots of Christmas-y photos going around, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

The December issue of National Geographic had a nice article on the Russian Thistle, better known as the tumbleweed, symbol of the American desert southwest. In the table of contents, they had a nice picture of a giant Christmas tree built entirely of tumbleweeds. Where? Chandler. Right next door to where I live.

It's not every day that you learn about something local in an international publication, so I figured it was worth a look.



Indeed it was a big tree made of tumbleweeds. It's 35 feet tall, and it's made of 1,500 to 2,000 tumbleweeds attached to a wire frame. Tumbleweeds are very common here (I've been hit by them before ), so I'm sure the city had no trouble collecting enough to make this huge tree. It's also covered in 65 pounds of glitter, 25 gallons of white paint, and 20 gallons of flame retardant. Because, you know, the real sparkly white stuff is not so common around here.



It sure is prickly. You won't find any cats trying to climb this one.



Well, there's my little contribution to the holiday spirt. Have a merry day!

Very nice photos ! Love the colors!

[scratchpaddy]

Lemons and lemonade, I suppose! Here one sees a lot of holiday lights on palm trees.

Best of the holidays to you!

Thanks, Julie! Yes, we get the lighted palms, too.

Very nice photos ! Love the colors!

Thanks very much, Michael! Bright colors are easy to come by this time of year.