If you live in the San Fernando Valley, you probably see a lot of myrtles. If you’re in Westwood, there are magnolias. Leimert Park? Mexican fan palms.

“Depending on where you are and what’s planted on the street, LA is different,” says Matt Stiles, data and graphics editor at CNN.

For Stiles, the LA he sees is full of jacaranda trees – because he has made it a hobby.

This year Stiles has a interactive map where to find jacaranda trees in LA County. Jacarandas are one of the unique trees that make LA a masterpiece, he said.

“They’re one of those little insider things… We’re all spread out, but we know them and experience them together,” Stiles said.

But surprisingly, Stiles was never really a big fan of purple. He said he especially enjoys the jacarandas as a sign of the changing seasons, like the cherry blossoms in Washington DC. What prompted the Westside resident to map the location of one of LA’s most iconic trees is his love for the city.

“I’m a little obsessed with the street trees in LA because there’s just such a wide variety of trees there and because a lot of people’s perception of LA and what the city looks like actually comes from the car,” Stiles said.

The Jacaranda tree map covers most of Los Angeles County and marks the trees with purple dots.

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jacarandamap.com

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Matt Stiles

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Stiles spent a few years collecting data from tree inventories in various cities that document new trees being added and removed. If you look at the map, you’ll see purple dots. The empty spots are the cities where Stiles had trouble accessing their records.

At the end of May, Stiles said, he decided to spend a few days compiling all of this data on the map in time for the jacaranda trees to bloom in June.

“It’s just something I’ve been doing in my spare time,” Stiles said. “I’d like to take a thorough look at the data over the next few months and try to update it so it’s even more current next year.”

Stiles said he chose jacarandas over any other city tree to create his own map because Los Angeles residents love them so much. Native to Brazil, the jacaranda was brought to Southern California in the late 1800s and popularized by gardeners. Kate Sessions. According to the Los Angeles Public LibraryMany Jacaranda trees were planted in the 1950s and 60s as part of a city-wide beautification effort.

The map allows users to search for an address or zoom into a neighborhood to find Jacaranda groups to visit.

Jacarandas have now become a topic of conversation for Stiles and his family every time they are in the car.

“It was fun to watch my kids interact with something I built for the first time,” Stiles said.

Just like when you buy a certain model of car and then see it everywhere, Stiles says he notices the jacaranda trees more this year after putting so much time and effort into the map.

“Seeing the purple flowers in June is a quintessential LA experience, isn’t it?” Stiles said.