But he's not romancing anyone.

For almost three years now, Adams, the city's network specialist, has been adorning the city hall lobby with flowers just because he enjoys it. The exotic nature of the arrangements are the result of his training in ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

Adams, 38, was introduced to ikebana at an international flower show, where, he says, he was "blown away" by the arrangements he saw.

He started taking ikebana classes at the senior center in Cupertino and has been hooked ever since. He says it's the dry nature of his job that made him turn to flower arranging as an escape.

"I've always appreciated flowers. My mother was Welsh and in that part of the world, flowers are really big," Adams says.

Ikebana is a somewhat technical art, and it takes three to five years or even longer to master it. It's an ongoing process, Adams says.

"You have to know which flowers go with what. The arrangements should look the way they would out in nature," he says.

Maria Jiminez, a human resources technician, says Adam's arrangements have become more and more beautiful.

One colleague, Carol Ferrell, even asked Adams to do flowers for her upcoming wedding reception.

Although Americans associate flower arranging with women, Adams says, "back in Japan, it's a guy thing."

He says, "Most ikebana schools are named after men, and most of the headmasters in ikebana schools are men."

Adams says that the art of ikebana started centuries ago in temples where Buddhist monks made floral arrangements.

"Ladies really like it," he says. "They send me emails and thank you cards complimenting my flowers."