Category Archives: Other People’s Gardens

Even Parking Lots Offer the Opportunity to Picnic

Posted by Lesley on June 12, 2011 None comments

We didn’t splurge on the $17 times three for admission, but we still spent the afternoon enjoying much of what Selby Gardens has to offer - a waterfront view and a variety of plants and trees.  Good thing there were no picnic tables left at Marina Jack or I would have never thought of this spot.  Just beyond the parking lot for Selby Gardens is a surprisingly serene spot overlooking a canal and totally shaded by exotic trees.  

Maybe in other cities parking lots are drab, barren slabs of concrete, but this Sarasota lot is complete with a wood bench, so it’s basically a miniature park.  Luke and I have been there before because it’s a stop on the recreational trail that runs along Sarasota Bay.  Even when not visiting Selby Gardens, it’s nice to walk the sidewalks outside.  The plants are marked the same as they are inside, and sometimes there are plant displays outside the horticulture building.  

Today’s most talked about tree was the Sausage Tree, more formally known as Kigelia pinnata.  The large orchid-type blooms hanging from the branches are what caught our attention initially, but then we remembered the tree from our visit to the Edison Estate.    

We couldn’t figure out the connection between the common name and the tree until we spotted some fruit hanging.  They look like giant sausage casings and are apparently quite dangerous.  The fruit can weight up to 15 pounds and have not only knocked out car windows but animals and people too.

Lunch was as good as the spot thanks to an old and new menu favorite.  The old favorite, ham and basil pinwheels, are an appetizer I make for parties because they’re such a cinch.  Spread cream cheese on a tortilla and top with raddicchio, basil and Black Forest ham.  Roll, cut and done.  The new favorite, Daily’s Daquiris, are a freezer to cup insta-cocktail.  I said it in my last post, and I’ll say it again…it’s going to be a long, hot summer.  Daily’s will be helping me get through it.

Selby Gardens

Posted by Lesley on May 31, 2011 None comments

Lucky me because I have a friend who volunteers at Selby Gardens, and she gave me her guest pass today.  What a treat!  It was far more enjoyable than my last free visit to Selby when the rest of Sarasota was also invited for free.  I’ll shell out the $17 admission before dragging my family to that mob scene a second time.  But lucky me again since John and Cooper are always such good sports.  

The white flowers in the first photo are commonly known as Musical Notes.  Their less fitting scientific name is Rotheca incisa.  I’ve never seen them before, one reason to never tire of visiting Selby Gardens or any other garden for that matter.  You never know what will be blooming.

Planting Personality in Your Garden

Posted by Lesley on February 24, 2011 3 comments

Have you ever thought about what your garden is saying about you?  Because gardening is much more than mere maintenance.  It’s a form of creative expression.  As dogs are said to look like their owners; the same can be said for gardens.  Some are meticulously mulched; others are overgrown.  There are rock gardens and butterfly gardens, exotics requiring high maintenance and xeriscapes requiring no maintenance.  Some hold statues, and some invite birds.  Look around your neighborhood for trinkets, treasures, jokes, and personality traits; they’re hidden in the gardens.  My garden is telling the world I’m a lovable, inventive, drinker? No, recycler.

I disassembled an old 1970′s lamp and turned it into an inexpensive garden globe.  It’s sitting in a bed of sweet potato vine now, but at one point I had the sweet potato vine planted in it.  It trailed quickly and ended up covering too much of the globe.

And of course, there’s my garden border…

Now let me introduce you to some of my neighbors.  This one has a good sense of humor.

Aww, that last one is too cute.  My guess from that garden is that there’s a lot of love in that house.  But I have to end with the more familiar and completely classic Florida garden stamp – the pink flamingo.

What’s in your garden?  And what does it say about you?

Biking Legacy Trail in Venice

Posted by Lesley on February 13, 2011 2 comments

John and I took our bikes down to Venice and hit the Legacy Trail today.  While much of the 10-mile trail looks like this… 

…the Southernmost section in Venice meanders past parks, through neighborhoods and over two bays – Dona and Robertson. The trail is under construction at U.S. 41 right now, but a new overpass is expected to be finished by this summer.  We turned around at that point but could have taken a detour to continue on.  Legacy trail picks back up on the other side of 41 and connects with the Venetian Waterway Park trail.  The VWP is another fabulously uninterupted recreation trail; it runs along side the Intracoastal waterway for five miles.  On a warmer day, we’re going to take it to Caspersen Beach. 

There are seven trailheads for Legacy - Potter Park, Bay Street, Oscar Scherer, Laurel Park, Nokomis Park, Patriots Park, and the Venice Train Depot.  We planned to park at Oscar Scherer State Park but used the trailhead at Laurel Park instead because we didn’t want to be subject to state park hours.  The ranger told us that once the gates lock, you can’t get back to your car.  With our luck, we’d be camping tonight.  It was fun to see what was growing in the community garden at Laurel park anyway.

Cool air combined with a warm sun is the best kind of day.  Accordingly, the trail was bustling.  We passed joggers, bikers, fishermen, dogs, old ladies, little kids, pelicans, and squirrels.  We were all out to play! 

 

Buy Your Butterfly Plants from CHAC

Posted by Lesley on February 9, 2011 None comments

My story on Community Haven’s plant nursery ran in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune.  It’s actually Community Haven for Adults and Children with Disabilities (CHAC), and the story ran today because I said and tweeted it would run Saturday.  So it goes…every time.  If no one asks the dreaded question, When will it run?, then the story will run the following day.  But if the question is asked, and even worse, if the question is answered, then I can count on a week’s worth of Groundhog Day mornings, which consist of me running to the driveway in my pink bathrobe before brushing my teeth or hair not to find my article in print.  Even with Lucille Ball across the street, it’s not nearly as funny as Bill Murray being binged by the annoying insurance agent Ned Ryerson every morning.  But back to real life as I know it, the old lady across the street looks exactly like an off-her-rocker Lucille Ball.  She’s Lucy meets Kramer, and even though and possibly because she won’t so much as wave to me, she is my all-time favorite neighbor ever.

Anyway, it really doesn’t matter to me when an article is printed as long as it’s printed.  But when I’ve said when it’s going to run, I check because the other person is checking.  Three or four days in and I start thinking, do they think I’m some crazy woman who has no connection to the paper and there is no article?  Who’s the crazy neighbor now?  Lucille Ball or me? 

Besides when, I also have no control over what prints.  This time around, my favorite butterfly tidbit got cut from the final article.  As the workers were about to move a load of parsley, about 75 swallowtail caterpillars were spotted under the leaves.  Around 80% metamorphosized into butterflies.  The experience was turned into an impromptu and ongoing lesson for the Selby preschoolers on the life cycle of butterflies. 

The nursery specializes in butterfly plants and Florida native plants.  This is a table full of newly propagated milkweed…just think of all the Monarchs and lessons!

The article turned out great regardless of timing or edits because CHAC really has something with their plant nursery – the potential for a profitable business that drives a social cause.  It’s smart and it comes from a good place - to provide work and resources to people with disabilities.  And here’s a general observation that I can’t make in a newspaper article: it felt like a happy place to be and work, disabled or not.  Shop there, take a tour, hire the crew for landscaping, donate something, anything, just support their cause.  They are providing programs, food, housing, support, and jobs to our community.  And the more support we give, the quicker they’ll become another reliable, healthy, local food source.  They’re already talking about starting a buyers club.   

The nursery is located at 4405 DeSoto Road; the number is 941-302-1828.

The Best of Bayfront Park

Posted by Lesley on February 8, 2011 None comments

The cold weather today had me wishing for warmer days and thinking of one in particular that I forgot to blog about.  On a sunny day about two weeks ago John was feeling antsy, so he swept me away from the office over to Bayfront Park, better known as Marina Jack.  We did two loops around the park and mostly talked about work anyway, but the conversation was made so much more interesting and upbeat with bay views in the background!  The next warm day, wherever you are, find a spot and enjoy the weather for at least 10 minutes.  It’s too good to pass up.  But that’s not the reason for this blog post, the restroom is.

That’s right, I want to talk bathrooms.  Why?  Because with a garden on the roof and a hand-painted octopus, Sarasota boasts the coolest public restroom around.  The garden is a green roof that reduces and cleans stormwater runoff and also helps keep the building cool.  Planted by Tecta America and funded by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, the flowers and greenery include weeping lantana, wallyberg and aloe. 

Two large cisterns collect the excess rainwater to irrigate the garden, but they’re not your purely functional, plain Jane cisterns.  In pure Sarasota style, the Bayfront Park cisterns were hand-painted by art students from the Ringling College of Art and Design. 

When I finally get a rain barrel, it must have a pink octopus.

Edison’s Christmas Ornaments

Posted by Lesley on December 14, 2010 2 comments

Although they’re called the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Thomas Edison was the first of the two to settle in Fort Myers and the estates showcase more of his life than Ford’s.  Two of the three houses are Edison’s, and visitors can also tour his research lab.  Aptly, the Christmas decorations not only celebrate the surrounding landscape but also Edison’s inventiveness.

At $20 a piece, the picture is my souvenir.  I’ll wait for a light bulb to blow around here and make my own.  A small drill bit will poke through the top of the bulb, and a lightweight wire hanger can serve as the hook.  I love how the beads are worked in.  They keep the wire in place but also add some finishing flair.  The garland was finished with citrus and equally charming.

There were lots of natural ornaments on display too…

White Angel’s Trumpet- Brugmansia x candida – Peru

Cluster Fig – Ficus racemosa - Asia

Nagami Kumquat – Fortunella margarita - China

Limequat – Lime x kumquat - China

    

The Mable Ringling Rose Garden

Posted by Lesley on September 27, 2010 None comments

We visited the Ringling Museum of Art on Saturday.  Beyond Ca’ d’Zan, Mable’s rose garden is my favorite spot. 

The garden was planted in 1913; it was based on the Italian wagon wheel design.  Rows of roses circle around the focal point of a limestone and wrought iron gazebo.  The gazebo is original.

The roses are not.  Only three percent of the roses in the current garden were around in Mable’s day.  She also didn’t enjoy the modern ease of rose disease control.  Mable used to have to replace half her roses every two years because of disease.  Today’s technology has lengthened the average life of a rose to 12-15 years.  Here are a few from the garden:

Christopher Marlow

Europeana

The Mable Ringling Rose Garden is one of only three accredited public rose gardens in Florida.  The accreditation comes from the American Rose Society and requires that the garden adhere to a number of additional quality controls.  Stop by on Mondays; admission is free! 

The Garden Room Cafe at Shoogie Boogies

Posted by Lesley on September 24, 2010 None comments

Gardeners get ready for your new favorite lunch spot - Shoogie Boogies.  I love, love, love this place!  It’s not fully open right now because of renovations, but John and I enjoyed dessert under the stars last Friday night. 

The garden courtyard was set up as a photography studio and bloomed over time into a cafe, tea room and gift shop.  It’s easy to see why.  The location is fabulous – Towles Court, which is an artists’ colony west of US 301 in the downtown Sarasota area – and the atmosphere is nothing less than delightful.  Flowers overflow from old-fashioned claw tubs, and yellow bells trail over the fence.  Fountains and flower pots decorate the meandering brick patio.

The food is simple and delicious.  I was there once for lunch back in April and gobbled up, if I remember correctly, a crab-tomato bisque and a Waldorf-type salad.  What I definitely remember is that it was fabulous.  I have a bizarre distaste for any type of warm liquid – coffee, tea, soup – never cared for them, but I loved that bisque!  Our desserts were also excellent.  John must have told the waitress at least three times how moist the chocolate cake was.

Part of the Garden Room’s appeal is the intimate courtyard, but that doesn’t leave a ton of seating.  Reservations are recommended; call 941-951-5437.  The address is 1919 Morrill Street Sarasota, FL 34236.

Maclay Gardens

Posted by Lesley on December 28, 2009 1 comments

On our way back from Alford, my mom and I stopped in Tallahassee to visit Maclay Gardens.  Great stop – it’s less than five minutes off the highway and the property covers 28 acres.  It only cost us $6 for the day because we were visiting off-season.  The gardens are at their peak between January and April; that’s when the Maclays used to visit during the 1920′s, 30′s and 40′s.  We may have been early, but the ornamental magnolias still offered a show…

…with a cameo by a zebra butterfly.

Zebra Longwing is the official state butterfly of Florida, but this is the first one I’ve seen.  They must like the cooler weather.  It was in the 50′s – brrrr!  Wearing a jacket and looking up at masses of white moss hanging like icicles from the trees is as close to winter as it gets in Florida:

This is one of the secret gardens.  It holds every color of pansy you can imagine.

The gardeners cut out diamonds in the Creeping Fig to expose the brick underneath.  The diamonds line the inner wall that keeps the garden hidden.  It seems simple to do, and the effects are dramatic.