ANNE KOLB NATURE CENTER

Being that last Sunday was Mothers Day, we all went out together to the Annie Kolb Nature Center. It is part of the Broward County Parks system.

First thing that struck me is that there was no admission fee to get into the north side of the park and there were not that many people there.

At first when I found out that this park was named after a former Broward County Commissioner my jaded nature of politicians kicked in. But further research about Annie Kolb, the centers namesake ,revealed her to be a strong environmentalist. She had convinced the Commission here to pass the Urban Wilderness Park System to preserve endangered lands. Her efforts placed a building moratorium in Southwest Boward County for 61,000 acres. The Florida Wildlife Association named her conservationist of the year in 1977.

Because of her foresight this park was created and the 1,500 acres preserved. Ok maybe I was wrong.

The Nature center is enclosed within WestLake Park. It has been converted to protected coastal Mangrove wetlands and native plants and wildlife.

The idea is to return this area to a native habitat and remove the exotic plant species.

They have built several nature trails that you can walk extending out into the mangroves. The area is mud flats and wet ground so the elevated paths are great.

They are all made out of that gray plastic composite from recycled plastic. This picture is from a top a five story observation tower in the park of one of the nature trails.

I got the feeling that this place was serious about teaching conservation . The more that I read and saw the more I liked it.

The grounds also has lots of wild flowers growing along with native plants to this area.

Here is some Lantana Plant which does great in the heat here and is drought tolerant. Did I say it is a fantastic Butterfly attractor.

They even give you an excuse to have some weeds in your lawn as well as a reason to stop wasting your money on Weed and Feed.

The issue of pesticide use to me now is pretty much common sense. Whatever you spray on your lawn or plants sooner or later you will be drinking in your water or eating in your food.

Some more wildflowers growing along the walkways.

These are Blanketflower which grow really well here .

But the real star of the place is the Mangroves themselves. This park is covered in Mangrove wetlands. The Mangrove trees themselves are really not that impressive to look at compared to a lot of other trees at first glance.

But when you begin to learn just how important the mangrove tree is to the marine ecosystem they take on a new light. The Mangroves provide the nursery for countless juvenile marine fishes as well as wildlife. Their tangled root systems provide protection for the fish and wildlife giving them a place to hide and prosper.

This picture is of the Mangrove roots. It was low tide so they are visible . You can see the white tide lines on the roots to tell where the high tide water will come up to on the plants. Don't they make a great hiding place for juvenile fish.

I thought this park to be an outstanding example of what we could do to conserve some of our native habitats. Personally I would much rather have my tax money spent on an effort like this than on another baseball stadium. Maybe I'm just weird. It just seems that we have to be stewards of nature.

After a while we went to the other side of the park and rented some Kayaks for a few hours adventure. There are three Kayak trails carved out of the Mangroves that you can paddle down or you can just paddle around in the large shallow saltwater lake.

It is a great way to observe nature close up as you want and have a lot of fun doing it.

The canals extend all the way out to the inter coastal waterway just inside the beach shoreline.

The bottom line here is that Westlake Park and the Anne Kolb Nature Center is a really neat place. Not a lot of people , Minimal costs and a lot to see both plants and wildlife.

Then add in a bright blue South Florida sky, Fresh air , and a sultry pre- summer day. Topped by being surrounded by your best girls. Who could want more?

--SANDDUNE--

PATIENCE PAYS

It seems that having patience has paid of in the form of some cool Blanket flower blooms. I first saw this flower in bloom in a planted bed out in Los Angeles, California in 2008.

The blooms were so sharp and colorful that it went on my list of plants that I wanted to try in South Florida.

Last spring I started a couple of Gaillardia Aristata seeds to stick in the garden. After they germinated they were transferred to a planting brick where one of the plants got trampled by my dogs and the other grew slowly under the foliage of a bigger plant.

Back in January of this year I dug up the plant to use the planting block for something else. It was stuck in a beat up plastic pot with some homemade compost. I added some holes to the pot top and some wire and made it into a hanging basket.

This was moved out front into the sun and hung up so I could keep an eye on it from the porch.

I had read that the blanket flower likes the sun and that it doesn't like much water.

It didn't take long to figure out that in this hanging pot and South Florida sun the rules didn't apply here.

I found that this plant takes a large drink cup of water per day to keep it from wilting and happy. Exposed to the wind and sun the moisture is quickly evaporated from a hanging basket here.

I had also read that this perennial wild flower doesn't bloom the first year when planted from seed. Of course this didn't apply either because with the warmer weather and its one large cup of rainwater per day the Blanketflower has prospered.

It is now as happy as a pig in ...Ah well anyway it is content and sending out stems with blooms in bursting color.

It may look kind of funky in the hanging basket but I like it . I mean after all this is South Florida where the normal is considered unusual.

The blooms of the blanket flower are so bright you have to love them,right.

The reward for a little patience is well worth it.

And how does this figure in with your 2010 Challenge you ask.....

Well i'm fittin' to tie it all together.

First I had to research the flower to determine what it was in the first place. Then read up on what exactly it likes to grow well. Then disregard everything that I had read because in South Florida the gardening rules don't work here.

Second I grew this plant from seed . One seed at a cost of maybe a dime . It was planted in a rejected old pot that had been saved from the garbage. It was made into a hanging pot with the simple addition of a few holes in the pot rim and a few feet of wire that I was able to bend and twist into the hanger supports.

And last it is growing in the compost that I made in my backyard and watered with saved rainwater.

Did I mention that the Blanket flower is a Perennial that will last for more than one year and re bloom again.

This plant has done well here and I give it the much coveted Sanddune Seal of Approval.

---SANDDUNE--

SIMPLE STUFF

---CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT---

It's a good time this week to catch up on some of the things I had been planning to do one day. The simple stuff seems to be the easiest to put off for another day. I have made a firm resolution to work on my list which is fast becoming a book.

Of course the most important comes first which is to fix my wife's broken planter.

She knocked it over and it broke into pieces while we were taking in plants before the big freeze .

Of course if I can fix it back together again I gain plus points.

Some weird contortions and Elmers glue later it is back in one piece sort of.

A few of the pieces didn't fit and others were missing but it pretty much fit together. Good at least for effort points and if you don't look real close almost perfect, gulp.

Plus points are real important in a relationship as any husband will attest to. You bank them for the time you do something stupid at which time you have to cash out. The goal is not getting rich with plus points which is impossible. Breaking even is the best you can hope to do.

Anyway that's done and the points are in the bank. I showed it to her late after dark in the dim light and she acted duly impressed as is her unwritten obligation in the deal because she was the one who broke it. Simple relationship 101.

Getting back to the list I dug up this here Blanket flower plant from out of the garden.

I had planted it there after sprouting it from seed this last summer. I found an old plastic pot and added some wire to it to make this hanging basket.

This way the Blanket flower plant gets the full sun and I get to use some of the pots cluttering up my shed. It is a perennial plant that will not bloom the first year from seed. Hopefully it might bloom this fall.

I have never grown this plant here but I did see one in bloom a while back in L.A. California and thought it looked cool. Here it the picture of the bloom on the one I saw growing in a garden bed in L.A..

It looked like a huge Daisy. I figured if it grows there it will probably do well here. It is susposed to like full sun and little water from what I have read about the plant.

Figured in the hanging basket I could watch it better from my porch. Right now the plant looks like some type of limp lettuce leaves but I have great expectations for it.

After all this list shorten' seemed like a good time to see what there was to see from the rest of the garden.



I found one of my Cardinal Air plants sprouting a bloom spike.

These plants are native Florida Bromeliads. This particular type is endangered in Florida now.

It is really cool to see it blooming or about to bloom anyway. This means it will soon be reproducing by pups after the bloom is done.

And lastly I noticed that my creamsicle geranium is sharing some more of it's roselike blooms.

Well I figure thats a good start on the list anyway.

And it fit in my 2010 challenge by using the resources that I have on hand. Besides that I made points by doing it!
---sanddune------------------------------------------------------------------------