LAND OF FLOWERS

Ah FLORIDA! What comes to mind when you think of Florida? Mickey Mouse? Harry Potter? Palm Trees? Beaches? Hurricanes? Oranges and orange juice? Key lime pie?

Do you think of flowers when you think of Florida? Many northern flowers are not able to survive the heat in our summers, and we don't have enough freezing temperatures to allow spring bulbs to become dormant, so we have no snowdrops, daffodils or crocuses popping up in springtime.

The climate is sub-tropical, so most of what grows here like hibiscus, ginger lilies and Caesalpinia (called Mexican Bird of paradise in the USA) can also be found growing in the tropical areas of the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

I live in North-East Florida in an area known as the First Coast, named because the area is so heavily steeped in history. About 23 miles from my home is Saint Augustine, the nation's oldest continually inhabited city. It was settled in 1565 – that's 55 years before The Pilgrims first set foot in Massachusetts on Plymouth Rock! And about 52 years after the city was founded, the famous Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon set foot in an area of the beach bout 10 miles from my home.

It is believed that Juan Ponce de Leon arrived in our area in springtime, and an abundance of flowers were in bloom. Hence he name the land he saw la Florida, Spanish for "abounding in flowers'. I like to think that's the reason he named our state, but historians tell us that it is more likely because he arrived either on Easter Sunday or Palm Sunday. Ponce de Leon named the whole land that he had set foot on, la Florida, but it came to be the name of just our state which in 1845 became the 27th state of the union.

Next time you visit Florida, take a break from all the theme parks and find a botanical garden where you can enjoy the flowers that grow here. If you are in the St. Augustine area, a neat place to visit is the Washington Oaks Gardens State Park near Palm Coast with its formal gardens, nature walks and beautiful beach area with sand and the unusual coquina rocks made from broken seashells.

In Jacksonville there is the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens and you can also enjoy botanical gardens as you walk through Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

Another neat place to visit in Jacksonville is the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens

If you don't want to wander too far from Orlando's theme parks though, there is beautiful Harry P Leu Gardens with 50 acres in Orlando to explore. Through September 30, experience the Enchanted Fairy Doors experience!

A short distance from Orlando in beautiful Winter Park, there is the Mead Botanical Garden and in neighboring Winter Gardens there is the Norfolk Botanical Garden

I photographed the majority of the following images in my own garden. The rest I photographed in my neighborhood. Not all of them are native to Florida, but they all have adapted well to the Sunshine State!

Monarch on milkweed with purple sage

Indian blanket flower

Black-eyed Susans

Bougainvillea

Elephant ear flower

Butterfly ginger lilies

Canna lily

Hidden lily

Crape myrtle

Lantana

Penta

Plumbago

Powderpuff

Red hibiscus

Spiderwort

Thunbergia

Vinca

Passion flower

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FLORIDA THE SUNSHINE STATE