Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

This is the tallest tree in the garden. As it gets taller it becomes a bigger target for the next hurricane. It went through Andrew and Katrina and a few other lesser known storms. The Pop artist icon Roy Lichtenstein has a show at the garden. It's the first time ever in a world-class botanic garden. Fairchild also has glass artwork of Dale Chihuly in Tropics Conservatory. If it doesn't rain I will go over and take a few pictures.

Christmas Comes to Coral Gables

Last Saturday the city of Coral Gables invited us to a garden party.

Santa was there and so were the children. I wounder if the young ones realized that Santa was at a real home and not a mall or department store.


The quartet sang the whole afternoon. Sometimes they would go into the living room and sing with the pianist. It was nice to see Christmas as it should be.

A Christmas Tree With Style

The home owner has built this tree every December. At least as long as I have been driving down there street. I don't remember it ever being damaged by the weather. On December 7 07 I posted a larger pointsettia tree.

Another Old Spanish House

I have watched this house most of my life. You can peek around and you will not find a window facing the sidewalk. I knew the owners at one point, but I was never invited in. The windows must open to a central patio.

SOB

Sob is an orchid and the full name is Sobralia atropubescens. Believe me, Sob is the proper abbreviation for this orchid. This orchid grows in the ground and not in trees. I blooms off and on all winter but the individual flowers last only one day. My site has a page of Sobralias, just chick here.

Its Getting To Be a Habit

A rather nice habit. Last year he did a nose dive into his birthday cake. He had never seen cake before but he didn't have the least problem getting used to it. This year is the second cake that he has seen. But he waited for his Dad to cut a piece and then he ate it with a fork. Just because he used a fork didn't mean that he kept his face clean. At the way he is going, next year he will cut the cake and serve it to use. I hope that I can keep my face clean.

The Tree Trimmers From the City

These trimmers are removing the lower branches producing a taller and more stately tree. It may be pretty but in a hurricane it is likely the first tree to fall over. This work is being done on a very busy street. It took a while to take a picture without a car. If you click on the picture you will notice that the workers are watching me. The next picture that I took shows a large piece of timber falling.

Not a Natural Tree

This tree is normally a very large tree. I should be as wide as it is tall. But man has decided that the wires going from post to post are much more important then trees. If(when) we have a hurricane we need the wires. The answer might be put the line underground. No way! If the line is in the ground when the tree falls over, the roots would tear the lines apart. The lines above ground are easy to detect and fix, but think of the problem of finding something you can't see. The only answer is to remove the trees, I don't think so. We love our trees and we will have to pay for them.

Caroling Competition

1. 

This is the 21st year of the competition for the middle schools and high schools. Five days of caroling and then an evening of the winners. The poinsettia Christmas tree has 1,200 potted plants. This is part of the Junior Orange Bowl. Our city sponsors the program of 21 activities, mostly sports. This is the world's largest youth festival.

Dancing Lady

This Oncidium orchid has many species and hybrids that are called Dancing Lady. Most of them grow with ease in Coral Gables. I hang the pots in the trees and they do their thing.

In The Neighborhood

This chateaux is two blocks away. While it looks out of place around all the old Spanish homes it is a beauty and well over a million dollars. It's a lot of house on very little land and has been for sale at least a year. The add in the newspaper claims a swimming pool. I've looked for the pool when I walked by and I have never figured out where there is space for one. I'm a lap swimmer and I think small pools should be left for waterlilies.

Old Spanish from the 20s

Houses that where built for $10,000 now sell for $500,000 or more. Over priced but still nice. I grew up with this type of home and to me it's beautiful.

Ae Ae banana

I have two plants that are maturing their fruit one week apart. There are at least 20 hands of bananas. This last Saturday and Sunday I had 12 visitors to get some bananas. If anyone wants to try this banana let me know. This is only for people that can stop the house. I don't plan on mailing any fruit.
Both the fruit and the leaves are variegated (I count six different colors). If you want to see more pictures of the Ae Ae banana click here.

Geiger Tree (Cordia sebestena)

The close up shows the true beauty of the flowers. There are flowers on the tree all year long, but not many today.

The Cordia tree has become part of the Florida Key's history. Named after Captain John H. Geiger, a pirate who built his home in Key West, the name "Geiger tree" was likely inspired by Audubon's engraving of Captain Geiger's beautiful flowering Cordia tree with white-crowned pigeons sitting in a branch.

A Bridge, is a Bridge, is a Bridge

A friend has a bridge over his garden pond. It will not get you very far, maybe just closer to a waterfall. But what it does for your eyes and your mind is superb. I am sure that the trolls gather there. Click here to see his garden(and he makes a living doing it).