Boktoberfest

   Bok Tower Gardens is a botanical garden and bird sanctuary, located in Lake Wales,Central Florida. It consists of a 250 acre garden,a 205-foot Singing Tower with its carillon bells, and a visitor center. The tower is built upon Iron Mountain, a high point in Florida at 295 feet above sea level. It is a National Historic Landmark.

   In 1921, Dutch immigrant Edward  Bok, editor of the Ladys Home Journal, and his wife were spending winters in the Lake Wales area and decided to create a bird sanctuary on its highest hill. Bok commissioned noted landscape architect Frederick L. Olmsted, Jr. to transform what was then the sand hill into an amazing garden. The first year was spent digging trenches and laying pipes for irrigation. After which,soil was brought to the site by the truck loads and the plantings began. The plan included the planting of 1,000 large live oaks, 10,000 azaleas,100 Sabal palms,300 magnolias, and 500 gordonias (camelias etc,), as well as hundreds of shrubs including blueberry and holly. And currently includes perennials,orchids and bromiliads and many other tropicals.  And annually they hold an event called Boktoberfest.
There is the  plant sale with vendors and wholesalers from all over the region. And that makes me happy!

ooohhhhlala!

 DH wanted this one, too "dangerous"

Wercklea ferox~~Spiny Hibiscus

My heart skipped because I am entranced by ferns I've never seen!!! Does anybody hyperventilate like me??

  With the temperatures at an ideal level,  the shopping commenced. Then, our plants safely in the holding area, we toured the garden and listened to the bells!  A great day for this gardener!

Three colors of peppers on this bush!

           

   The Singing Tower is the centerpiece of the gardens. The tower was built  south of the reflection pool that allows the water to reflect its full image. A 60-bell carillon is set within the 205-foot tall, Gothic Revival/Art Deco tower that includes sculptures set in its sides.  It is built of pink and gray marble, and Florida  coquina stone, from Daytona Beach. The tower is surrounded  moat /Koi pond. The tower's interior contains largest carillon library in the world. Inside the bell chamber is a playing room that houses a clavier, or keyboard, that is used for playing the  bells. Recitals are given daily.

These beauties cam home with me

                                                                                                                                                     

things that fly...(flutterbys and hoverbugs)

The beginning of fall in Florida is barely perceptible. It may be a slight drop in humidity or slightly lower temperatures in the morning.Our maples turn orange later on in the year. But the acorns start falling now and stain our driveways. We may have a few days when we open the windows and turn off the air. We love that! We can go outside and lie in the hammock or sit in the shade....but it still to hot to stand or work in the sun in midday.

I had a new friend over for a garden tour and fed her lunch and ginger tea.She thought the garden was beautiful. Don't you love to share your sanctuary with others! ....I am sprucing up the garden for family that will visit in November. Thinking of you all and your lovely leaves and crisp sweater weather...Enjoy each day and its beauty.

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Some things that fly there be - Emily Dickinson

Some things that fly there be --
Birds -- Hours -- the Bumblebee --
Of these no Elegy.

Some things that stay there be --
Grief -- Hills -- Eternity --
Nor this behooveth me.

There are that resting, rise.
Can I expound the skies?
How still the Riddle







This little guy flew into my breezeway and when I caught him he bit me....ouch

 

                                                

Can you see my hummer?

eden lost

Whether you believe in Eden as an allegory or a literal fact, it records the history of mankinds journey from hunter/gathers to to a community of cultivators. Thus civilization was born.  In Eden nature provided the fruits and hopefully the veggies and it was good.  However God  understood the nature of  man was not to be alone. It was essential to form the bonds of love,friendship, and community to insure survival, heath, success and happiness. With the birth of consciousness ( the symbolic "knowledge of good and evil") and language, so became began the story of how plants and animals became changed by our selection and genetic engineering . And so we cultivated larger, disease resistant produce with more yield and sometimes less taste and more beautiful and varied specimens of beauty!!   In doing so we lost our "in the now' innocent nature and became uniquely human..with fear and worry about our future crop,our land or our  lovely orchid! And we became territorial  with all the "human" traits such as envy, lies, selfishness, and hate.  In our fragmented modern world we have lost the  community that came from an agricultural society.  Many are isolated from the intimacies of nature and the emotional benefits of gardening. We have a mobile society and are isolated ,stressed and lonely..The ancients knew about the importance of cultivating the soul as well as the mind. 

In ancient Ireland, the human heart was never complete without the companionship of others.The “Anam Cara” was originally someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life...In Celtic Spiritual tradition, it is believed that the soul radiates all about the physical body what some refer to as an aura. When you connect with another person and become completely open, honest and trusting with that individual, your two souls begin to flow together.  The Celtic Anam Chara cuts across  space, time, matter and even death. With the Anam Cara, you could share your innermost self, without the superficiality of wearing a mask or pretension. Do you have one?   For they can provide seeds and cuttings to enrich your life.

some kind of aloe

Crinum asiaticum-Spider Lily

Coleus

Brugmansia~Angels Trumpet

Clerodendrum quadriloculare--shooting star

Clerodendrum paniculatum~Pagoda plant

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the watergarden of good and evil...

the corner of my yard is my boardwalk,the swamp is the light color

Good vs evil, plenty vs want ,drought vs flood..... We had the worst drought in the 22 years I have lived here. So have many others. In the past my swamp was only dry for a couple months in April and May, but I had no water for a full year this previous year. I had a small vinyl pond like  Noahs Ark to hold two water lettuces, two water lilies, two frogs etc. and to provide water to the animals. As my irises began to decline and wilt, I waited anxiously for the rains to come. Then the 40 days of rain came!  The days of rain seemed endless..water and more water. Only a few of my irises  are coming back, but now the water lilies are taking control. Everyone vying for control over space and so it goes in this ever climate changing world.  I got out today with a rake and cleared some lilies and the water weeds..I wasn't lazy today..but I AM exhausted. But the watergarden is my privacy and sanctuary.

“Moderation, the Golden Mean, the Aristonmetron, is the secret of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an unadventurous mediocrity; rather it is an elaborate balancing act, a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim is a reconciliation of opposites".~Roberson Davies

Before

 Nature's Balance

I hear the gentle stirring of the wind
as it softly caresses the trees.

I smell the moist and delicate scent of rain
as it gently fall upon the fields.

I watch a squirrel peek out from its cozy nest
and pause, then scurry silently along the branch.

I see an eagle soar, its eyes half closed
against the sun's bright glare.

All around me the delicate balance of nature
paints a mural within my mind's eye. 
 
Brendaln Martin

warelily takeover

these are not caladiums but a type of taro..grow in water..this leaf is a mutation and if I could have cloned it I would make a ton of money!

papyrus

your garden of secrets

Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of blogs with the title My Secret Garden?  We all know it's referring to the book of that same name. But did you ever wonder why people are intrigued by a secret garden with its  stone walls?  Is it the mystery of the unknown?  Is it the refusal to share of those who hide it?  Is it forbidden fruit?  Are we fearful of being shut out?  Is it just the call of truth? 

 I had a person tell me a while ago that they like to withhold a little secrets that no one else knows.  Is it one upmanship? withholding?....  Is the wall and lock to keep people out or is it really to keep oneself, the hidden fear, in?

A favorite childhood book ,The Secret Garden, was  written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  First published as a series in 1910, the story centers on a young girl named Mary whose parents die during an outbreak of cholera.  Mary is sent to Yorkshire, England to live with her recluse of an uncle. Mary’s heart and soul are sick from a lifetime of neglect and she is looking for connection. She makes a friend in her cousin whose mother died when he was quite young.  Mary was told  of a secret garden somewhere on the manor that her uncle had locked up years before.The father has sealed the garden because he cannot bear to see it. I always wondered why one wouldn't want to be reminded of the beautiful memories.

“Secrets are like plants. They can stay buried deep in the earth for a long time, but eventually they'll send up shoots and give themselves away. They have to. It's their nature. Just a tiny green stem at first. Which slowly, insidiously grows taller, stronger, unfolding itself, until there it is. A big fat secret, right in front of your face; a fully bloomed flower perfumed with the scent of deception.”Judy Reene Singer

 Cassandra Clare said,"Lies and secrets, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind. 
"When left to their own devices, people lie and keep secrets and change and disappear”,  said Lauren Oliver.

 With determination Mary seeks  enlightenment and discovers the key (truth) .What she finds is that, despite years of neglect, there is still life to be seen in the inner sanctum. It is a mirror to her own needy soul, a once-dead and forgotten garden that will bloom to life again with honesty, care,love and compassion. In the end, her cousin Collin and his father are reunited and the children are able to show him the resurrected garden . Three broken souls are healed by the beauty of nature and the power of love.  It's a  classic story we all long for..that's why we love it.

 So, I guess the lesson of the story is only when the secrets are found and shared ,can the restoration begin, and one can reconcile their grief with the support of others and only then can move on with their life!  And then the garden of the soul that is dormant can bloom again and be shared and bring joy to others. All you have to do is not resist,be open and step outside the pain of the past you have embraced.

My sister-in-laws garden of her restaurant in California always reminds me of what the secret garden might have looked like in the authors eyes. The restaurant in Cambria is called Robins and serves wonderful food  But the best secret is the garden...And I am willing to share the truth and its beauty with you!

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