A Plant Geek in South Florida - Bonnet House

While the ink was not yet dry on the contract for my brother's new Florida getaway, I was already researching area gardens to visit.  Never mind the fact that I had not yet been officially invited, but I knew that would come, as he's a generous soul.  One of the garden's that popped up on the google machine was Bonnet House, which I first heard of from fellow blogger Philip at East Side Patch. Philip's post, and the fact that this green oasis is walled in by all the hotels, clubs and restaurants of modern Fort Lauderdale, put Bonnet on my short list. If you want to know the home's fascinating story just visit their site, but the short version is this:  rich northern captain of industry buys huge chunk of Florida oceanfront wilderness, gives it to artist son who builds unusual home for himself and wife #1 who dies young, son despondent until lively wife #2 comes along, Bonnet House thrives, lots of art created, wife #2 passes the century mark and bequeaths house and grounds to Florida preservationist. Now a piece of old Florida has been saved.

The circular drive surrounds the Desert Garden and leads you to the front door.

The front columns are carved from coral.

All of the rooms contain the original furnishings and open onto a covered gallery surrounding a lush courtyard. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any interior photos.

There are many connecting themes throughout the house, including monkeys. There are even some real ones climbing through the garden's trees.

Orchids are also a theme and many of them are growing in the garden.

Anchoring the corner of the front porch is a large banyan tree which in this case is some species of Ficus. Climbing through its branches is something that looked to me like Philodendron with football sized leaves.

We will end this leg of our trip with was an obligatory "I was here" shot under the banyan tree.

If you would like to see the full set of my photos from Bonnet House, then click here.

Next we will be taking an early morning stroll in full-garden-voyeur mode.

A Plant Geek in South Florida - Time in the Everglades

On our second full day in Florida we drove west of Fort Lauderdale, past the yacht brokers, the beautifully landscaped neighborhoods, beyond the golf courses, national chain stores and familiar restaurants.  Through the car window, among all this development, you can see a system of canals, levees and control gates that separate new Florida from the Everglades.  This has to be one of the most engineered ecosystems on the planet, and a fragile one at that.  I don't know much about the subject, but I do know that the Everglades were nearly ruined, have been stabilized begrudgingly, and are now being restored. However the recovery must be managed, as all of man's meddling means it can't yet stand on its own.

Now let me come down off my high horse - and climb into an airboat.  Our destination was Sawgrass Recreation Park which offers group and private tours of the Everglades, and is home to a small and somewhat sad zoo.

This is a female boat-tailed grackle, which our captain mentioned was a nuisance bird. I have missed them though. Where I once lived they were a constant presence, as the showier males always try to out-sing and out-display one another.

Was that what we all came to see in the previous picture?  I do believe it was.

By this point I could have easily reached over the side of the boat and touched the gator. In fact, I was probably closer than I wanted to be and was recoiling a bit while the other people in the boat were pushing me forward so they could get a better look.

After this he submerged and went on to doing what his kind have been doing for millions of years, and we went on to Ikea.

(Next up: another piece of old Florida)