This week Edhat linked to an article in the LA Times about jacaranda trees. While most of us read the article as a tribute to a beautiful tree, Ed's focus went elsewhere.

"About 3,500 jacarandas dot Pasadena," the article said.

"Well?" Ed asked the dedicated staff of edhat.com, "How many jacarandas are there in Santa Barbara? Do we have more or less than Pasadena?"

The staff was distraught. While the grave importance of the task was understood in no uncertain terms, the logistics and dedicated staff hours required for the endeavor would be overwhelming. Dedicated staff hours don't grow on trees, you know.

Ed was disappointed. He counted the 76 cents of change in his pocket, and then he counted it again.

"How about if we just count State Street for now … and figure out how to count the rest of the city later?"

So yesterday, the dedicated staff journeyed back to the tree-lined streets of downtown Santa Barbara to count jacarandas along the 10 blocks of State Street from THE 101 to Victoria Street.

Most trees still had some flowers, but most flowers had fallen to the pavement below. Since the trees were spotty, and there were no blue carpets of pedals surrounding them, one could only assume that the streets had been recently cleaned.

So here are the numbers. On the east side of State Street there are 37 jacarandas. On the west side of the street there are 42. That's a total of 79 trees - more trees than cents in Ed's pocket.

Edhat subscriber Eudaemonius was the only one to guess 79 in yesterday's contest. Eudaemonius wins a $25 gift certificate to Left at Albuquerque.

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