Sometimes when you haven't been home in a while, you see it with new eyes when you return. Growing up, I always thought of our backyard as ordinary, but going back it seems like a wonderland of quintessential (if not necessarily native) Southern Californian plants and flowers — palm trees, bougainvillea, cacti, aloe, the exotic dragon tree. When this cactus flower bloomed for just one day, I was inspired to snap the rest of the botanical world of the backyard I grew up in.
![Aloe plants Aloe plants](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAo2F4num-_hkwRTGYnfXG9B5TQmBP04EHaukSh3Q2TjlIbx1CDa620mFspb_zpZLEdXYYPIQl9XnlqGSzgX3OiLk0Rmt4Q-To-MJDS696JZe_yQiMfYursxLQlmDBFMeuGPRkPwKbCjy8/s1600/aloe.jpg)
![Palm plant Palm plant](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4wPsKKXqYroXgSNflTOuw-GQbpXTZBOmN3W__z-40euWqfRNKQGopvuu-qRyLrhohnSs0V12qz-p3RH0Qn6lsIFYrYekZmQINMrk6DOkzUd02XYf4PvQiQ9tZscugh-ARE6BqgM0nrZmu/s1600/plant.jpg)