Tecoma Tree Flowers Blanket Cars & Streets, Cleaners Have To Sweep Up The "Mess"

Tecoma trees’ flowers blanket cars and streets

Our social media feeds have been filled with photos of tecoma trees over the weekend. And for a good reason too, as breathtaking sights of these trees blooming with pink and white flowers – akin to Japan and South Korea’s famed cherry blossoms – are adding colour to our lives during this pandemic.

Along with a plethora of shots from a myriad of angles of these trees, many have also been sharing photos online of fallen flowers blanketing cars and streets. While the pink and white “blankets” add a dreamy touch to local scenes, there were netizens who took to social media to show appreciation to cleaners who have to sweep up the fallen flowers.

Flowers blanket cars and streets

Image credit: @leehongchiat

Netizens have been sharing photos of flower petals scattered on sidewalks, and on cars parked underneath them on social media platforms. While parking under trees is a common practice in Malaysia – as the trees offer shade for our cars – the blanket of flowers that have been covering cars parked under tecoma trees in previous days have made things look a lot different from our regular scenes.

Image credit: Jegathambal Nadhiya

And it’s not just the cars that have been covered – these local “sakura” flowers have also been forming pink and white “carpets” on sidewalks, resulting in magical scenes in our neighbourhoods too, as shared by netizen @shibainu_uniko.

Image credit: @shibainu_uniko

Over 10,000 trees planted in KL alone

According to Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur’s Facebook post, shared on 27th March 2021, over 10,000 tecoma trees have been planted in KL to offer shade and add colour to our locales.

Some of these trees can be seen in public parks, and along roads such as Jalan Kelang Lama, Jalan Kuching, Jalan Sri Permaisuri, Jalan Metroprima Kepong and NPE Highway. The government also plans to plant more of these trees, so we can look forward to more of them when they’re in full bloom in the years to come.

Netizens pay respect to sanitation workers

If you happen to stumble upon fallen flowers from tecoma trees, you’ll notice these paper-thin flowers are slippery in nature, much like a banana peel. So sanitation workers often have to regularly sweep these fallen flowers up, as the generous blooms fall from the trees, creating thick “carpets” on the sidewalks.

As such, several netizens have taken to social media to commend the workers who have to sweep up the “mess”. This includes Facebook user 88milestones, who shared on Facebook a shot of the trees and a conversation they had with a sweeper, who told them that the trees were stunning but that cleaning up after them is “taxing”.

Image credit: @GaleriShasha

While many have praised DBKL for beautifying our locales with trees in the comment’s section to the before-mentioned Facebook post, several individuals also came out to voice their concerns for our cleaners as well. Alywin Liew, for one, commented, “Beautiful scenery, but do please pity the DBKL sweepers for the extra work”.

Tecoma tree blanket cars with fallen flowers

We have been soaking up photos of tecoma trees in person and online, as they have been offering much-needed colour in a year made difficult by the pandemic. Nonetheless, while we’re enjoying the sights of pink and white flowers dotting our locales, we also would like to show our appreciation for our sanitation workers who are working extra hard to keep our sidewalks free of fallen flowers regularly.