Monday, March 30, 2009


One day while I was driving through an older neighborhood, my eyes were caught by the sight of something new to me. I saw a Sabal Palm Tree that was freshly carved into a Living Totem Pole. I have never seen this before and was blown away by it. I just wandered if it would survive after being carved into like that. Well, I past by it so fast and was very busy that day that as time went on I forgot exactly where it was. I searched the sides of every road I traveled for about 2 months and then I found it. I couldn't believe it, there it was. This time I was equipped with my camera and was able to get a good picture of it. I am not sure exactly how old this is but it is at least 2 months old. If you right click on the picture and open it in a new tab you will see what I didn't even notice until I was looking at the picture, but there are actually 2 of them. Here is the picture of 2 living Sabal Palm Totem Poles.





Click On Picture To Enlarge





I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. See you again next time!!




Sunday, March 29, 2009

' Party Time '

That's right, it's Party Time!! Or at least that's the name of my new plant Alternanthera 'Party Time'. I found this new plant at my local nursery and there was only one. I made sure not to pass this one up, this is a must have! I am not sure what they have done to it but it is bright green with bold splashes of bright pink all over the leaves. It grows best in temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees. This plant is an indoor or outdoor plant depending on where you live. I have no idea just how big this plant will get or what to expect but that is the fun part. Here are some pictures of my new 'Party Time' plant.








I hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you again next time!





Friday, March 27, 2009


I had a feeling this year would be good for my Mango Tree ( Mangifera indica ). Last year was the first time it went to fruit. It was a sad display, I think there were only 5 or 6 Mango's on the whole tree. The worst part about it, I never was able to taste any of them. I was beat to them by the squirrels. They have caused me much trouble so far and I am not very happy with them. I have a feeling that things will be different this time.

My Mango Tree is full of baby Mango's! I have been fertilizing with a great citrus fertiliser. I have also been watering pretty regularly. As you can see in the following pictures, I think it is working! Here are some pictures of the little baby Mango's.




This is a shot of the entire tree.


This is a shot of the dead flowers.


And here are the baby Mango's.









This is a shot the Mango Tree last time it fruited it's glorious 6 fruit.


And here are the first Mango's my tree ever produced.



I hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you again next time!!





Friday, March 20, 2009

I was given this Jewel Orchid ( Ludisia discolor ) as a gift. It was very tiny and did not look so good. Now it is in full bloom! Here are the progression pictures of a Jewel Orchid in bloom.


















I hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you again next time!



Saturday, March 14, 2009

A really good friend of mine is getting married. He decided to change things up and have his bachelor party canoeing down the Peace River with 11 of his closest friends. I have to tell you that it was a blast! The part of Peace River that we conquered is located in the middle of the state in Arcadia Florida. There are different trips you can take, we took the 12 mile tour. Taking this trip was taking a trip into TRUE Florida. The scenery, weather, water and wildlife was all amazing. I definitely recommend this trip to anyone who has never experienced TRUE Florida. If you want more information on taking the trip just ask me for it. Now for the fun stuff, here are the pictures of our adventure.




As I mentioned earlier the scenery was amazing.


This reminded me of a Rambo movie.


We couldn't have asked for a more glorious day.


Here is the camp site we chose to camp at. You can camp anywhere you want to. We picked this spot because the tall grass made for good sleeping.


If you look hard enough you can see 2 deer in this picture. They were startled at first then they relaxed and let me have a photo shoot with them.


This is another shot of the playful deer.


The water was low making it very easy to fossil hunt. These waters are jam packed with shark teeth, fossils and Indian artifacts.



We came up on a really nice rope swing. There were other people hanging out and having a good time before we got there. I couldn't resist, I had to go up there and get at least one swing out of it.


That water was a bit cold but it felt great after baking in the sun.

Here is an old railroad bridge that we paddled under.

We came up on another rope swing. This one was not near as good but I can't pass up a rope swing so I had to hit this one too.


Here is a shot of the same swing but farther away. There is a ledge right under the bank making it difficult to climb up. While trying to climb the bank to get out of the water my feet were looking for something to push off of and there was nothing. It was really freaky.... The Bachelor is a firefighter and has a firefighter buddy that owns property along the Peace River. When the trip was over he called his buddy to tell about our adventures. While telling him about the rope swing his buddy said I was crazy and that he would never do that because there is a 12 foot alligator that lives under that ledge my feet were dangling under. Now it is really freaky thinking back on the situation. But I made it and that is all that matters.


This is one of the beaches that we pulled up on to hang out and take a break from paddling.


Here is another shot of the scenery.



That was our trip. I am ready to again this weekend! We have set a date for 3 weeks from now to go back. We are addicted now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! See you again next time!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Mckee Botanical Garden is located in Vero Beach Florida. This amazing garden is built on 18 acres and was founded in 1929. You can read up on it by clicking here. This was my first time ever visiting and I am sorry that it took so long. This place is amazing! Here are some pictures of my visit.



This first picture is a map of the garden.




This picture is of the amazing Royal Palm Trees ( Roystonea regia ) that are just plain huge.


This next set of pictures is of one of my favorite Palm Trees commonly known as the Old Man Palm ( Coccothrinax crinita ). This Palm Tree grows very slowly.





Here is one with Brandan standing next to it for size comparison.



These next pictures are of my favorite...... The Screw Pine ( Pandanas utilis ). These two pictures are the same kind of tree just different ages. The second one will turn into the first one.



This is a random picture of the garden.


Ouch! I would not want to run into this tree running through the woods. I was not able to find the name tag but I think it is a Corojo Palm tree (Gastrococos crispa ). It is completely covered in 3 to 4 inch hypodermic needles.





This set of pictures is of my favorite bamboo known as Buddahs Belly Bamboo ( Bambusa ventricosa ). I am attracted to the shape of the culms. They are like an hour glass.






That concludes my trip to McKee Botanical Garden. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. See you again next time.