To the naked eye Bip had only the clothes he stood up in: trousers, jacket, soft ballet shoes, striped jersey, and a crumpled opera-hat topped with a red flower.

ECONOMIST: Bip

The cat is now a trendy pink (it was red in its previous incarnation) and sports a flower instead of a bow.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

But from the saddle and far into the heart of the Dixie Dude's 750 acres, I'm looking at a landscape crafted by Wayne and Eastwood: dried creeks, prickly pears, untamed, unpeopled hillsides of brush inflamed with a red-orange covering of the flower known as Indian paintbrush.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas

Medieval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro turns into a flower market, blazing with pink, red and orange azaleas and rhododendrons.

BBC: Best city for spring 2011: Lucca, Italy