The month or so each spring when the jacarandas are blooming is my favorite time in Los Angeles. The splashes of color have seemed exceptional this year, at least on the Westside. Unfortunately, the city picked prime jacaranda time to trim street trees in Mar Vista, despite pleas by residents to leave the violet effusion in peace. George Garrigues at the online Westmar Sun has some of the correspondence between neighbors and Ronald D. Lorenzen, city Street Tree Superintendent. (If you see a pretty L.A. jacaranda photo I can link to, please let me know. I've been looking...).