The last week has been extremely busy and there are a mountain of fun things to talk about that sprang from it as well as quite a few neat things that will be coming down the road for the garden. Of course right now we have results of the last of this winter’s oppressive ice storms, Titan, hanging around to hold back our gardening endeavors but soon, very soon, we’ll be able to get digging again. Last week I was so fortunate to be able to fly down to Miami to enjoy the warm weather with several other garden bloggers and our friends at Troy-Bilt. I’ll mention more of that trip a little later but I did want to show you some photos today of the wonderful garden we visited called Vizcaya.
Vizcaya was the winter home of James Deering a millionaire who made his living off of agricultural equipment. The gardens encompass about 50 acres of Florida land right on Biscayne Bay and are filled with native Florida plants. The gardens contained structures made of limestone that was quarried from the site and were beautiful works of art that created a structure to hold all the different plants. In fact in some cases the structures became the container for the plant as the epiphytes made them their homes. Epiphytes are plants that grow upon other plants and structures and derive their nutrient needs from sources other than their host. They are non-parasitic. Here’s a look at some of what we were able to see!
I had so many photos that I compiled some of them in a short slideshow. I hope you enjoy the photos. If you have questions about anything in it feel free to ask in the comments!
While in Miami we also had the opportunity to help an urban community garden get started. I’ll show you some of that garden installation later in the week and I’ll also show you some photos of the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show which I attended on Sunday. Busy gardening days are ahead!
Brings back some pleasant memories as I sit at my computer in a cold home office back in in Canada on a cold (-15C) winter day. I flew into Miami mid-morning for travel to Peru three years. As my flight to Lima didn't leave until late evening, I took the train from the airport to Vizcaya and spent a few hours exploring the building and grounds. It was as amazing as it was billed to be. So much to explore. And so many small details, like the imprints of sea life into the cement steps.
So true Karen! Every step you took through the gardens you could spot some sort of fossilized sea life embedded in the stone.
Your slide show brought back memories of the time I visited Vizcaya years ago. It was lovely sitting right on the water with all the sea life details.