We took a quick Sunday ride to the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens before Easter dinner. It was a quiet way to spend the day, with flowers and butterflies.












I hope all had a peaceful Easter, with family and friends. Time just keeps passing…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens
Life on my own, on the Nature Coast of Florida, and beyond…
We took a quick Sunday ride to the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens before Easter dinner. It was a quiet way to spend the day, with flowers and butterflies.
I hope all had a peaceful Easter, with family and friends. Time just keeps passing…
I had to go to the bank the other day, and since it’s practically next door to the Spring Hill Botanical Gardens a stop seemed in order. But, unfortunately, the butterflies weren’t very plentiful while the no-see -ems certainly were. Consequently it was a quick trip, but not so quick that I didn’t notice all the changes that they have been making at the garden. First of all this sculpture, which is in progress. At the base of the wing you see a disruption in the tree trunk, which I’m sure is why the tree was sacrificed and this sculpture is being made. A beautiful solution. I hope it will be finished the next time I’m here.
Not everything was new however, just seemingly rearranged enough to make it look new. Namely the castle in the feature photo, I hadn’t ever seen it from that side before. I liked that picture.
By this time my ankles were so itchy that I was ready to leave. I need to actually use the bug spray that is always in my car, but I forget it’s there. I’m hoping that the hot weather will let up soon, it has been keeping me close to home for a while now. I shouldn’t complain, soon we will be enjoying the weather that drew us to move to Florida in the first place…
Not too long ago I was at the Nature Coast Botanical Garden when the model train was running. The conductor said that his grandchildren were coming soon so he had to hurry up and finish his work on the train village. I think he did a great job. And the last time I was at the botanical garden the shrubs had just been cut back, so there were very few flowers and not so many butterflies. My how things have changed in a few weeks.
Purple flowers weren’t always my favorite, but purple and black were Charley’s high school colors, Mt. St. Joe in ‘Bawlmer’, and then when we got a football team after a long stretch without one, tough for a town like Baltimore who supports its teams, purple and black turned out to be the Raven’s colors, too. So when we moved to Florida Charley wanted only purple flowers in the yard, and I guess it rubbed off on me because that’s what catches my eye these days. I’ve been seeing photos of flowers lately, and I guess that’s what gave me the idea of going to the Nature Coast Botanical Garden today, and my first view didn’t give me a clue that there had been so much pruning going on in the garden. But once I was inside I saw all the trimmed up plants and knew that it will be a lot more colorful in the coming weeks. But it was beautiful, and there was a surprise in store.
I will return before too long because there is a nice butterfly garden here also, and in a few weeks the flowers won’t be the only colorful photo ops here…
Float away with me to a magical world…
Where down maybe be up, and up may be down, and blue bottles grow on trees…
To a place where seashells aren’t always found by the sea.
You might wave to your neighbors as you float by.
Where tiny bees buzz…
And ladies don’t always wear the colors you might expect.
Float away, it’s time to play…
Leave your worries for another day…
There has been lots of fall foliage in my Facebook feed lately, but mostly from New England and Michigan. And just today my Facebook memories reminded me of the trees I used to see on my way home from work that I used to claim as fall color, Florida style. So today I rode up to Spring Hill to find the trees, and then headed to the botanical garden to see what was blooming.
I think the color of the trees disappointed me a little, it’s more brown than red. I think that the glimpse of those trees that you see behind houses, or hidden among other trees, always seems to be brighter fall colors. But when I haven’t been up north for a while it feels like fall to me.
The botanical garden was a surprise today. It was early and the flowers were plentiful and loaded with water droplets, and butterflies.
That orange butterfly must have been hungry because he let me get a lot of photos of him. And one photo was straight down on his back, and when I viewed it blown up in the computer all I could do was say, “Boo!” Halloween will be here soon…
And while I was zooming and cropping I loved these droplets too!