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A Hour at Fairchild | Part I
It’s really difficult to visit Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in only an hour, but we did. Thankfully we were already familiar with the park otherwise I can’t imagine recommending anyone not familiar to visit it in only an hour. Really, you should spend half the day there if possible. It’s even more fun when they have their tropical ice cream vendors there! We started off with the vines on the west side of the park near the road. This is a chalice vine, a succulent-like vine that we once grew in our garden in Ft. Lauderdale. I wrote about the jade vine over on Sprout Dispatch on Monday. I’m not…
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A Really Quick Jaunt to Jonathan Dickinson SP
After we left our paddling adventure we drove towards the Atlantic ocean and Jonathan Dickinson State Park, home of many camping and hiking adventures over the years. (see photos here). Our first stop was the parking lot up front by the park office and a short walk down what used to be part of the Ocean to Lake segment of the Florida Trail. Lupinus diffusus Sand pine Orange blazes turned to bright green blazes??? We were thoroughly confused until we got back to the trailhead and I looked at the paper maps stowed in the map box. Apparently this section of the OTL had been turned into a loop and…
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Four C Trail Ramblings: Davy Crockett NF | Part II
Sapsuckers have been working on this tree In case you missed part I: go here. Looking back at these photos taken a month ago I realize that spring has really come, despite it still feeling a bit delayed. The flora has woken up and and begun its new growth for the year, at least some of it. Also while looking at these photos I remember the feeling of quiet and remoteness I felt while walking in the woods off the trail. I wondered how often anyone came this way, much less went off trail as we did, even if we only went just a little ways. It reminded me of…
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Paddling at Riverbend Park
When Chris and I were planning out our Florida trip we knew we wanted to go paddling somewhere. It was a tie between the Loxahatchee River, one of Florida’s two National Wild and Scenic Rivers, or Fisheating Creek. Fisheating Creek was at the top of our list but the shuttle service to complete one of the runs came with stipulations that the water levels had to be at a certain height for them to drop us off. Unfortunately when Chris called the water was lower than needed for us to do that run, and while we could have paddled downstream or even upstream a certain length and got out and…
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Sandhill Cranes at Riverbend Park
On our first full day in Florida we went up to Rivebend Park in northern Palm Beach county to paddle on the Loxahatchee River with our friend Gator Man/Tom. At lunch time we pulled off into a large picnic areas to eat and stand up to stretch our legs. As we were sitting at one of the chickees we noticed a sandhill crane that was apparently injured. One of its legs was broken or bent backwards and it appeared to hurt pretty bad. Then we noticed a second crane off behind us on the other side of the picnic area. Soon they started communicating. It’s hard to fathom how loud…
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Return to Florida
Last week Chris and I flew to Florida just as a nasty ice storm was hitting Houston. It was perfect timing. The only problem was our direct flight from Houston to Ft. Lauderdale was cancelled, with no explanation. We scurried to figure out how to get to Florida in the hours of the morning before most gate counters were open in the airport, but Chris was able to get us on a flight to Tampa leaving 10 minutes after our original flight and then connect to Ft. Lauderdale later. We arrived over 2 hours later than we’d wanted, and then spent nearly an hour trying to figure out where our…
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Four C Trail Ramblings: Davy Crockett NF | Part I
On our way home from Nacogdoches a couple of weekends ago, Chris and I decided to hit up a section of the Four C Trail in Davy Crockett National Forest. We weren’t on a mission for a long hike, just a leisurely stroll to stretch our legs and take some photos if the opportunity presented itself. Since I take photos to document the things we do in life in addition to more fine-art nature photography, I took all of the photos and Chris kept his camera in his bag the entire time. The trail is named for the land’s former owner, Central Coal and Coke Company, which in return most…
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The Ruby Mize Azalea Garden | SFA Botanic Gardens
On the west side of University drive and directly across from the Gayla Mize garden is the Ruby Mize Azalea Garden. Unfortunately we were about a month too early for the spectacular blooms of the azaleas, but it was still a nice walk through the small garden here. A camellia that I didn’t catch the name of. More camellias! If only we could keep the deer off of our remaining camelia in our yard… A magnolia bud. Camellia japonica ‘Kujaku-tsubaki’ Camellia ‘Spring Mist’ It was definitely the transition time for the end of the camellias and the beginning of the azaleas. Next year we’ll have to plant to visit east…
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Roost
Great white egrets have made a roost across the pond in perfect view from our back windows. I haven’t seen any nests yet so I don’t think it’ll turn into a rookery, but you never know.
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The Gayla Mize Garden | SFA Botanic Gardens
On the far east side of the Stephen F. Austin campus is a wooded area that is home to a newer garden in the SFA Botanic Gardens, the Gayla Mize garden. It is definitely a work in progress with new plantings that are only a few years old, but you can see the potential it has in the upcoming years. Camellia yuhsienensis Euonymus phellomanus I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I thought over in this garden, but it was a lovely walk. Lots of interesting species plants from various parts of the world, even a sassafras species from China that we didn’t know about. Back beyond the garden…