And All At Once, Summer Collapsed Into Fall

Dec 25, 2025
3 min read

Updated: May 4

To my surprise, even in the Mediterranean, Oscar Wilde’s famous quote also applies.

When I wondered about Valencia’s weather, it didn’t cross my mind that the scenery would include contrasting elements that I had never experienced all at once before. Especially when you find their famous orange trees with the fruit at its peak while you are freezing on the streets! I didn't believe we would see any snow, but I asked an elderly man while standing in line to go into the medical centre, and he said he had seen snow in Valencia four or five times (he was born here). Can you imagine that?

In the city, you don’t notice the dramatic Autumn changes in the flora, like in other parts of Spain, but you can still see some plants going from green to orange and red, with the palm trees turning a little bit yellow. Overall, it is a beautiful sight when you are lucky enough to see semi-tropical citrus plants fruiting all around. It’s an overwhelming feeling, I insist, something to look forward to. I guess dogs feel content about their walks during this time of the year, too. Whenever I see them, they just seem happier to feel the wind against their fur.

I was also extremely vigilant of my surroundings, trying to figure out if I would find at least some bees flying around, and I did! Depending on which bee it is, they are still active at the beginning of winter; after all, there are over 1,000 species of bees in Spain. The best adapted to the territory is the native Iberian honey bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis), a distinct dark subspecies of the western honey bee. What impressed me the most was that around Christmas, I could still find flowers blooming with bees gathering nectar! For example, the Japanese Mahonia and the Borago Officinalis, both truly impressive plants that will get their own post each.

Valencia during winter is still as beautiful as any other season, but I enjoyed Autumn the most because I got to hoard on seeds! I tried to keep a journal of the plants and trees I was finding on the floor, but I lost track! I could not resist, and it even felt like a waste when I would find hundreds of seeds scattered on the sidewalks. I had no idea that palm trees offered so many! WOW.

If you love the seasons and the end-of-year festivities, you'll be interested to know that one of our services we offer is designing and decorating gardens for this beautiful time of year. It includes filling them with plants that are representative of the season, with oranges, reds, greens, and yellows. It will come with a solar lighting system to enhance the landscape. Make an appointment to learn more about what we can do.

Before Christmas, we went to the inauguration event, and it was nice to see so many people from so many different cultures gathered all together in peace and harmony. I wish the entire world were like this. The celebration took place the week before Thanksgiving, and it felt like a great start to the season! We debated a little bit about celebrating Thanksgiving, but it is probably the one tradition that my adoptive mother loved the most (she was from the USA), and I want to keep doing it for her. It did feel something was missing, mostly because this is not a traditional Spanish celebration (for obvious reasons). Therefore, the city continues its usual rhythm, and you still have to work. It’s funny because they do run Black Friday’s offers like crazy! One thing to be “grateful” for, hahaha.

Since the Community of Valencia is our home now, I thought I should decorate our tree to tell a small story about where we have been, but especially to honour the future bee-friendly spaces we will create!

These are the meanings behind the ornaments on our Christmas tree: