The Great Hero is a Schoolteacher

One of my goals this year is to plant a dappled willow (Salix integra) in my backyard. There are a few in my town and I love them.

So why not go further and imagine trees with fully pink leaves?

This is how Mera trees were born. If they grew on islands in the middle of a lake, it'd certainly look like candy clouds. And of course, the lake would be named after them. Lake Mera. "Shut up and take my money."

This may look cheap, as inspiration goes, but in real life, most landmarks are named after something else.

Nachtimmel did a great job at suggesting the whole environment of Lake Mera with these graphic brushstrokes.

The main inspiration for the city of Merumo is Poreč, Croatia. Just make the roofs an even brighter red, forget the belltowers (temples of the Almighty are preferably round with domes) and keep the touch of Venetian Renaissance architecture.

The people of Merumo are extremely proud of Mera trees. The pink trees are a major part of their cultural identity, so they keep them close to their hearts by wearing Mera flowers on them.

I wanted the flowers to look inconspicuous, so their structure is deliberately quite simple. A single crown of white petals, a single crown of pale stamens. What makes the flowers precious is their scarcity rather than their look.

Will they really bring good luck to Al and Catalin?