Bonus images!

I took oodles of shots while I was down in Ft. Lauderdale and I can't resist posting a few more. Here are a few of the MANY bromeliads that we saw at Fairchild. You can see some more of the Aechmea blanchetiana in the first shot. And what a striking color combination with the purple Tradescantia pallida and the silver-colored palm!

I've read that Aechmea blanchetiana grows green in the shade and turns that brilliant yellow-orange when it's in full sun. I'd love to find some of these for my yard, but I worry they may be too tender for my area even if I covered them during cold spells. We'll see.

Many of the bromeliads around the garden (like this red one) were just plopped into a giant hunk of limerock--very classic Florida.

Bromeliads can survive like this because most of them don't rely on driving roots into the soil to take up water. Instead, they collect water in the natural cups that form where their leaves come together.

Fairchild also had tons of fabulous cycads, more than 200+ species according to the Fairchild Web site. I'm only posting one shot now, because the rest are still on the work camera.

And finally, I'm posting one shot of the plant with one of my favorite botanical names--Monstera deliciosa. Some people also call it Swiss cheese plant because of the naturally occurring holes in the leaves.

Again, this is another true tropical plant that probably wouldn't survive in Gainesville's chillier weather.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens

A group of us from work are down in Ft. Lauderdale for the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. This afternoon we were able to head down to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, so I'm posting a few of the MANY photos that we took.

The palm-like plant is indeed a palm, Iguanura wallichiana var. major, which is native to Malaysia. I was mesmerized by the way the light was filtering through the crinkly leaves.

The yellow and green pods are from one of the most amazing plants on this planet, at least as far as chocolate lovers are concerned. The roasted beans from the pods of Theobroma cacao are the source of chocolate. Need I say more?

I absolutely loved the bromeliad--Aechmea blanchetiana. I'd never seen a bromeliad with such amazing colored foliage. And the way the flowers contrasted with the foliage? Amazing. I'll have to do some research when I get back and see if this variety would be cold-hardy enough for Gainesville.

And finally, I posted a shot of some of the cool Chihuly glass that is scattered about the gardens. This particular installation was our favorite, in part for its simplicity and for the way the linear red forms stretched upward against a solid green backdrop. Very pretty.

That's all for now since we have a breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. I'll be sure to post more shots at a later date.