Bougainvillea

Although I know better, I'm beginning to think I live south of the Equator. It is November, right? In the last few days, a veritable riot of color has broken out around our house -- around the island, really. The Clematis has started blooming, the trumpet vine has gone crazy, and most notably, the bougainvillea has begun to put out flowers. Bougainvillea has always struck me as kind of odd. The petals of its flowers look like leaves. I don't think I ever saw bougainvillea in person until I went to the Keys for the first time, though, and so nothing quite says "tropics" to me like a flourishing bougainvillea plant.