So a week ago Ric (Eric4home) and I headed to Fl. we will be gone almost 3 weeks for the whole trip. We drove down and stopped at Ric's fathers house in a small town above Tampa on the Gulf for most of the first week. We had a nice visit sitting on his jasmine covered front porch in the mornings. Visited a stork rookery, local beach and nursery where we picked up a few plants a fern and hibiscus. Even dug up a couple of small plants from his yard that told me they wanted to live in Pa with me.

Sat, morning we packed up and headed across the state to Daytona Beach on the Atlantic where we will stay for the next 2 weeks. Along the way we saw Sandhill Cranes always in pairs and surprisingly close to the road. One pair stopped traffic on a 4 lane road while they leisurely crossed from one side to the other. Pastures with huge live Oaks dripping with spanish moss and small herds of cattle standing under them in the shade. We passed fields of wild growing Pickerel in bloom with their lovely purple blooms gracing the land. Drainage ditches along the road filled with water lilies and caught glimpses of Cypress Swaps looking cool green and peaceful. The pic of the Cypress Swap was taken at a different location because we could never get pulled off the road at a good spot to take the pic but they looked just like this one.

Lovely!

On our way across Fl. we stopped at Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Fl.
It was a beautiful spot and a nice day to stroll down the mostly shady paths.
Huge live Oaks and palms with a lot of ferns, Bromiliads and other plants living on them.



More pics later the beach is calling.

Beautiful, Holly! Love the birds and the stately trees! Storks--very cool bird.

Great pictures Holly, I hope you are having a wonderful time.

Just loved this black EE "Black Coral" it is on the list of plants that I would like to find to take home.Tranquil pool.

The colors on the flowering Bromiedea are always so vibrant. Some type of very large leaf Begonia, I think. It reminds me of the Hardy Begonia I have at home.

Some container plantings, so very colorful

The silver "Bismark Palm is a fav of mine always so stately and beautiful.

The Coral Tree was truly a thing of beauty, It looked like it was full of cascading orchids. I have never seen one in bloom before.

The Rose Garden was truly lovely and it was all set up for a wedding when we walked thru. Not sure what time the wedding was didn't see Bride or Groom but people were starting to arrive.

Just a bit of whimsey the frog shaped flower clock.

This brings us to the end of the Leu Garden tour. Next group of pics will be from our visit to a Nature Center.

What a treat, Holly! Thank you for sharing all this.

Beautiful, Holly.

Karen

wow, that silver Bismark Palm is gorgeous! Must be hard not to indulge and bring tons of stuff back with you that is only available down there!!

Wow, Holly, that black EE is something else.

I love tropical plants! I just don't like the heat and humidity that comes with them.

Catmint, I have a list of plants that I am looking for while I am here. All of them much small than the Bismark Palm.

Holly, I beat you to the want list with Black Coral!
Pick one up for me while you're down there!

You mean the Bismark palm won't fit in the car??

Yes
We are heading out in a little while to visit a few nurseries and some parks stop at a dive shop. Yesterday was a veg on the beach day. I have a pretty nice view of the beach from our room. We aren't ocean front but have a large sliding door with a side view that looks down the beach. A very small patio a good 10 ft long but only about 2ft wide big enough to sit the plants on and stand out but not sit. We have a small round dining table with 2 chairs and I have been sitting here most of the morning enjoyed breakfast and a card game while looking out at the Ocean. There was a small pod with a lot of baby dolphins swim by they are very small, one jumped completely out of the water. I could see them easily from the room. It was very overcast this morning but it is clearing off very nicely.

ah, dolphins....

sounds like bliss