Change of color in South Florida

Who says we don’t have spectacular fall leaf color changes in South Florida?  The only differencet here and “up north” is in the number of trees and the  variety of colors.  Of course it also helps if you happen to see the tree on the day that color change happens…sort of like not wanting to miss the one day of summer in North Dakota!

This is a Cypress tree (I don’t know if it is bald or not…don’t ask).  For most of the summer it is standing in pond water that has risen because of the almost daily rains.  Now that the rains have become scarce, the pond level has receeded and the Cypress is on dry land again.  This particular Cypress produces “knees” which is sort of cool until they invade the lawn and I run the mower over one or stub my toe on it.

I think it is absolutely beautiful against the clear blue skies of fall.  I planted it when it was just a twig (honestly, it fit in the front seat of my car).  Now I wish I had planted two or three because it takes forever to grow.

Oh well, I never learn.  When I can have more, why would I choose less?  So, this weekend, enjoy yourself and ask for more!

Pretty, but I don't know your name

I have no idea what this plant is called (I know, that is a common theme for me).  I also have no idea where it came from, have no interesting tale to tell about it, and haven’t a clue about what environment it likes to live in.  All I know is once a year it covers itself with these beautiful flowers, usually when nothing else is flowering.  When it turns cold the flowers are gone and the leaves depart soon after that.  It becomes a stickly bush that begs to be pulled up.  Fortunately for it (and me)  I usually am too busy tending to other plants and never get around to yanking it out of the ground.

One of the advantages of not knowing this flower’s name is I have no preconceived ideas about it.  All I have is what it shows me.  It is what it is when it is.  I like that.  Sometimes I wish people didn’t have names or lables either.  Sometimes I would like for each meeting with another person to only be about what is presented in that moment.  Wouldn’t that be different?

I hope you don’t know this flowers name either.  I hope you can just enjoy its beauty…and have a wonderful weekend.

I thought they were natives

I know I haven’t posted anything in over a month.  It wasn’t because there weren’t flowers out there.  I just needed a break.  That said, this week we return to the wonderful world of bromeliads.

I always thought these bro’s were native to Florida and I’ve told plenty of people that they are native.  Then, silly me, I Googled Florida native bromeliads and learned that all native bro’s live in trees.  Oops!  These “former natives” live on the ground, are quite prolific, bloom several times a year, and do well in deep shade or full sun.  With such adaptability you can see why I would think they are native.  Of course they will probably turn out to be invasive and the plant police will come knocking on my door any day now.

This particular clump was thrown under an old oak to await a time in the future when I had time to divide and plant them elsewhere. That was more than ten years ago.  The old oak isn’t even technically on my property although you would never guess that by looking at it (and I didn’t either until a survey showed me the error of my ways).  I’ve maintained the property around the old oak since 1998  just like it had been before I bought my house.  So technically, if the plant police show up, do the bro’s belong to me or the unknown owner of the land under the oak?

Anyway, I hope you have great weekend.  I’m going to a barn dance across the street.  I hope you have something just as novel planned.

why I moved here

Many years ago I was returning to work after my annual CPA visit re taxes (sort of like a pap smear but worse).  I was fuming because I was having to pay taxes on something I did not benefit from and I knew I couldn’t go back to work that angry.  As I drove down the road, I saw a street sign for a road I had never been down.  I knew the unknown always helped me to learn and relax, to let go of what was.  So I turned down the road as a way to cool off.  Just before the road turned and became an entirely different road, I saw a “For Sale” sign being put out by the road.  I stopped.  There was a winding dirt driveway so pitted with potholes I did not want to go up it.  I walked.  At the start of the second bend in the driveway I saw this magnificent Banyan.  I was breathless…I felt like I was home…I felt embraced.  The house was vacant and sterile.  It had never been air conditioned.  It had no appliances.  The land was overgrown and deceiving.  The windows and doors promised to stay in place only if I promised to not push too hard.  All in all, the house structure was not  a “good deal.”  Still, the banyan called to me.  I was torn between love and reality.

Two people helped me to overcome my fear of making the wrong decision.  The first was my good friend Mary who led me down a gentle “imagine what you see” guided path.  When she asked me what I imagined, I said the tree but further questioning led to “I hear children laughing.”  She said, “You already know the answer to whether to purchase this property or not.  Go with your heart.”   The second important person was my cousin Doris.  She is a Realtor.  I called her to handle the offer and closing details.  When we got close to the closing I started to have doubts and panic.  This property required money I did not have, cost more than I thought I could afford, and would be a work in progress for many years.  My cousin put it in  simple terms, “either shit or get off of the pot (she did not use those words, but I knew what she meant).  I so appreciate her wisdom and advice at that time.  Without her, I would never had found the one place that everyday makes me hear children laughing.  Doris, you are the best  Realtor ever!!

A piece of this story I left out is that I was not only looking for a place for myself but also for my mother who because of  medical conditions could no longer live alone.  My mother loved growing things and had an organic garden and farm long before it was fashionable.   I wanted my mother to be able grow whatever she desired.  This banyan property was just under an acre and perfect for a large garden, but not large enough to qualify as agricultural which would allow chickens.  My mother really wanted chickens.  I was torn and argued with her.  In the end, I won and followed the law.  Everyday since she has died, I wish I had lost.  We had a banyan tree for god’s sake!  How could a couple of chickens harm the environment or neighborhood more than that?

I’ll tell you this, with the death of anyone close to your heart should come a lesson that makes you stronger and truer than before they departed.  Mom, I swear this to you, I will not let any law or ordinance keep me from having a chicken…I will never deny a chicken again (even if I don”t like them)!

Its a Jungle Out There

Some of you have said I must have a lot of land because of the number of Friday flowers that I’ve managed to capture and send week after week.  Actually, I have a little less than an acre and part of that is driveway and house.  So really, not much land at all, but what I do have is heavily vegetated.  I clump all kinds of plants together, most in the ground but some in pots next to their ground bound buddies.  What this leads to is a jungle atmosphere.  Mostly the plants figure out how to coexist and get what they need to thrive.  That is fine with me.

This Friday Flower was taken at the foot of my front door stairs.  I know this isn’t the kind of look that most people would be comfortable with and sometimes it even gets a little overwhelming for me too.  But during summer it is just too hot and humid for me to spend much time trying to control plant growth.  I just let them have at it.

This weekend however, the humidity is supposed to be low and the morning temperature in the 60′s.  I have a new battery operated chain saw and together we will be imposing my will on some of the garden plants.  Don’t worry, I will have my cell phone with me in case I cut the wrong thing. 

I had a devil of a time with this orchid.  I shot it  multiple times in different lights and different times of day, indoors and out.  No matter what I did, I could not capture what I felt about it.  It wasn’t that this orchid was rare or special…well it was special…on sale at a box store; it was that no matter what angle or light I used, this orchid still looked like it was on sale…cheap!  OK, compared to a lot of orchids it was cheap, and compared to a lot of orchids it looked great and lasted several months (another way to measure cheap…give more and last longer than the average).  Still, it deserved to be presented at its best, its core of exceptionality.

Then one day I gave up taking more photos of my shy beauty.  I just looked at it and looked at it and finally I could see it for what it was…I could see its essence.  I took one of the reasonalbly designed photos and stripped away everything that was not necessary to its definiton of orchid.  The above is the result.

I truly believe that everyone of us has a core essence that is for the most part difficult for others to recognize or capture, but if we are stripped down to nothing more than our essence, we will easily be recognized and more imprtantly, loved for who we really are.

I hope this weekend you are seen at your very essence AND that you see at least one other for who they really are.  Therein lies love.

white wedding

Very recently my niece married the man who sets her heart on fire and makes her cuckoo.  I know they share much more than that first-love passion; they are spiritual mates too.  Their wedding was hastily planned (and not for the reason you immediately imagined) but because he is in the military and can be trained and/or deployed at any time.  It came down to finding a time  when the marriage was even possible.

So Lindsay, my niece, took matters into her own hands and planned a wedding that included only immediate family, occurred within 2 weeks from announcement, and the best of all, filled her soul with what a marriage should symbolize for her.  She found a wedding dress that was beyond my definition of a bargain, transformed it from a ho-hum cocktail dress and with lace and satin, converted it  into a true work of beauty (of course I see it as a reflection of her soul).    Then she planned her marriage outdoors, at the foot of a waterfall, and she showed up barefoot.  My LOL’s were heard far and near!

Because of the short notice, I was not able to attend (and probably could not have climbed to the waterfall anyway).  But had there been more time and had this week’s orchid cooperated, I would have asked her to allow me to make an orchid tiara of these wedding-white beauties.  I can’t imagine a more appropriate decoration to express the purity that she brings to this union.  My heart sends the new couple blessings and prayers that orchid delicacy and strength will always be a part of their marriage.

Pink Ball

I have no idea what this is or where it came from (I trust one of  you out there will tell me).  It is in a basket hanging in a tree that our agricultural agent thought was quite special (this occurred while my mother was alive and just before I planned to cut the tree down!).  Apparently there are varieties of this tree around but none like this one appearing this far north.  The AG agent took cuttings and flowers and seeds.  Really, I don’t know what he was doing but my mother would report his every visit and remind me I could not cut the tree down because it was “the only one.”   Even if it had been one of millions, I would not have cut it down.  Even if the AG agent story was totally fabricated, I would not have cut it down.  I would not have cut it down because to my mother it was important and the least I could do was treat it with respect, her respect.

My mother once showed me a copy of a printout that described this tree as a Tabebuia (further forwarding her contention that there was an AG agent and his assessment was that this was a rare tree this far north).  The difference in our tree was in the flowers; they were see-through paper thin and the most delicate lilac you have ever seen.  The tree was a mess of intertwining branches that were knarled and brittle.  I could not imagine that this tree was special…it looked more like a weed…but because my mother loved it, I protected it.

Hurrican Charlie came (my mother was deceased by then) and I was sure that this special, sickly-looking  tree would bite the dust, but it withstood the wind, watched many pines snap in two, lost one branch, and came back stronger than ever.  Finally, I gave up on giving up on this tree.  It has a home with me as long as I can stay here.

And the pink ball that hangs in the tree, unknown, unnamed, it has  a home too.  However, if any of you have any idea who these folks are and how I can make their stay more comfortable, I would appreciate your help.  They bring me joy and roots (and when I am speaking to them in secret, privately where no one can hear, I will mention that you helped save them too).

The trickster

 This is a plumaria, also known as a frangipani.  This flower has a wonderful fragrance that is stronger at night.  I read that the scent is stronger at night because it has no nectar and it wants to trick a certain moth into polinating it.  In high school, we called a person like that a tease!  Regardless, I find this plant delightful.

If I want a new plant somewhere else in my gardens, I just cut a limb off, let it dry out, stick it in the ground, and I have instant new plant.  It likes dry, well drained soil, so if you live in a sandy place, this is the plant for you.  Also, even though it loses its leaves in the winter, its torso is so unique and pleasing that I find it sculptural…free art and a conversation piece.

Its been a very busy week for me and for many of you too.  I hope this weekend brings you rest, relaxation, and if you are looking for it, nectar!