Fabulous Flowers

After getting up fairly early this morning, we packed a lunch and headed out for a day of fun.

Pathway toward the Visitor's Center of the
Botanical Gardens in Largo.

Bananas growing on the trees.

Mosaic bench in the Wedding Garden.

Our first stop was the Pinellas County Botanical Gardens and Historic Village in Largo.  The gardens are acres of ponds, wetlands, and other lands filled with trees, shrubs, and flowers.  Since it is a Botanical Garden, most of the species are named, so it is a great resource for what I want to plant later in our yard.  They also have experts to answer questions about how to plant a butterfly garden or a hummingbird garden.

The Gardens contain acres of ponds, streams, and rivers.

The grounds were laid out well, so we enjoyed a stroll through the acreage.  Fortunately, although signs caution people not to feed the alligators, we saw none.  I did see a mama and baby turtle, but they never really surfaced other than their heads, so they blended in too well with the muddy water to get a good picture.  As you can see by the other pictures, though, we were able to see everything from bananas growing on the trees to some magnificent flowers.  I would return next spring to see what we missed as far as the blooming plants go.

 I want these in front of my house!

One of the few birds we were able to see at the Gardens.

Rick was disappointed that we did not see much wildlife.  Geckos and a few birds were all that were present.  Apparently one must get to the gardens very early in order to see lots of birds.  That trip also will have to wait until another time.

After the gardens, we ventured south to the Florida Orange Grove and Winery Company.  This was a return visit as we like their Hurricane 5 and Blueberry wines.  The make award-winning fruit wines, so we picked up a couple of bottles of Coco Polada (coconut/ pineapple wine that tastes similar to a pina colada) and one bottle of White Gold which is a peach wine. (Thank you, Lindsay and Chris.  We used the gift certificate you gave us at Christmas to buy the White Gold wine!)  I cannot wait until Chris and Lindsay can come to visit.  FOG Winery sells both a banana wine and a banana smoothie mix that I am sure Chris will want to try!

We came home via the beaches of Treasure Island, Indian Rock, Bellaire, and Clearwater.  Some people just have way too much money!  I just keep thinking that if I owned any of those mansions on the shore, with my luck a hurricane would wipe it out or I would be miserable because I could not afford a cleaning lady to keep the place spotless. Sadly, most of the beach towns are little more than high-rise motels and condos with a few mansions thrown in for good measure.  The beaches of Clearwater will act as a barrier against the worst that a Gulf hurricane wants to throw our way, so I am glad they are out there as a buffer to all storms except those that come directly up the coast from the south.  Unfortunately, as I write this I know that meteorologists are watching a tropical storm off the coast of South America as it grows and moves north into the Gulf.  Floridians have long learned to take weather forecasts seriously.

When we came home, we noted that our lawn still has not been cut.  Tim was supposed to come on Tuesday, and since this is now Friday, we have given him more than enough chances.  Rick called him up and told him that as of the end of this month, his services were not longer required.  They have billed us incorrectly twice, sent us the wrong contract, and have failed on numerous occasions to please us with the job they do cutting our lawn.  We have made arrangements to work with a different lawn care service starting July 1.

Stephanie is a great photographer, taking a picture of us
having fun in the Botanical Gardens.

Tonight to celebrate Rick's birthday early, we are going to go to The Gallery for haddock.  Friday fish-fry.  I feel like I am back in Wisconsin until I look out the window and see the palm trees sway in the wind.  Today was a beautiful day (high of about 88) with a great breeze to keep us comfortable.  We have worked very hard, so I am happy that Stephanie came down to force us to take the day off.