It was quite a sight: rows of tall trees laden with yellow flowers, no leaves are visible. A thin blanket of yellow spreads around the ground beneath them.  Looks like a normal spring scene, or could be mistaken for autumn as well, except that its in a place with only two seasons: dry and wet.

The first time I saw one of these trees was when I was just outside of Malaybalay's city limits.  The flowers glowed bright in the afternoon sun. It seemed out of place among the green foliage of the nearby trees.

I thought was a "one-off", only to realize when I entered Malaybalay, that these trees are practically everywhere!  Together with Malaybalay's cool clime, the trees made for a surreal autumn or spring-like scene.

Some of the locals call the tree "golden shower", but botanically its Tabebuia chrysantha or Araguaney.  A quick Google search revealed that its the National Tree of Venezuela.

The tree grows at an elevation of 400 meters to 1700 meters above sea level.  Malaybalay's average elevation of 620 MASL fits that requirement perfectly. But how it came to be planted in the city (and probably nowhere else in the Philippines) is not clear. Some said it was introduced in the 1940s by a local who got the seedlings from Hawaii.

The trees profusely bloom between end of February and April and signals the start of summer.  Their blooming schedule is predictable (much like the cherry blossoms of Japan) and you can find them lining the highways, in the park, and even in backyards.