Candid Florida » Nature

Stroll a Florida Garden on May 6

Sandra Friend — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:27:00 +0000

Fairchild Gardens

This Friday is National Public Gardens Day, and no better time to take a stroll – or better yet, take your mother for a stroll – at your favorite public garden. With our temperate and tropical climates, Florida is blessed with some of the most colorful and beautiful gardens in the United States.

Better Homes & Gardens is a sponsor of the event and is providing two free tickets for the following Florida gardens if you go to their website and claim them. The gardens include:

Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales
Botanic Gardens at Kona Kai, Key Largo
Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables
Heathcote Botanical Gardens, Fort Pierce
John C. Gifford Arboretum, Coral Gables
Lakes Park Botanical Garden, Fort Myers
Milton Gardens of NW Florida, Milton

See slide shows from gardens throughout Florida at Botanical Florida
Find your way to Florida’s Gardens with my iPhone app!

Give Black Hammock a whirl

Sandra Friend — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:23:16 +0000

Black Hammock Fish Camp

One of the first genuine Florida adventures I was introduced to upon arriving back as a resident after a long absence was the crazy quilt of outdoors and dining that is Black Hammock Fish Camp, not far from Orlando along Lake Jesup in Oviedo.

The restaurant is down-home and tasty, featuring farm grown alligator and seafood. At the time I visited, you had to slip and slide down a sand road, much like driving in snow, to get there. The road’s since been paved but rambles through old orange groves in a blissfully agricultural district of Seminole County.

Beyond the restaurant, it’s a complex of entertainment and outdoors: a marina and boat ramp, waterfront tiki bar and shop full of trinkets and Ts, an alligator pit, and airboat rides on Lake Jesup. Now I’ve experienced for a fact that Lake Jesup is full of alligators. So if you’re hankering to see some, either hatchlings in a tank, gator tail on your plate, or the big guys in the lake, this is the place to be.

Black Hammock Fish Camp
2356 Black Hammock Fish Camp Road
Oviedo, FL 32765
407-365-1244

Moon Shot

Sandra Friend — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:46:29 +0000

Moon shot at Dicerandra Scrub

Growing up in the Space Age, it’s always been a joy to stop in Titusville and admire the view across the Indian River Lagoon of the hustle and bustle of Kennedy Space Center.

It saddens me that the wind-down of the Space Shuttle program will have a ripple effect on local businesses, such as the Clarion Inn at the end of SR 50 that just recently closed. But there will always be the moon.

Space View Park is an excellent place to see the starry skies over the Indian River Lagoon, but I lucked into this daylight shot in Titusville at Dicerandra Scrub Preserve, no tripod, with my Nikon D-80. Perhaps the stars were in alignment?

Free fishing for Father's Day in Florida

Sandra Friend — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:00:47 +0000

Heading out to sea at Jupiter

In honor of Father’s Day – and to encourage Floridians and visitors to hit the beaches – Governor Charlie Crist has proclaimed this weekend – June 19-20, Father’s Day weekend – as a “free saltwater fishing weekend” for all. No licenses required, but state fishing regulations still apply.

Learn more about fishing for free in Florida this weekend!

Loaves and fishes at Bethesda-by-the-Sea

Sandra Friend — Sun, 23 May 2010 04:07:07 +0000

At Bethedsa-by-the-Sea, worship is not held just in hallowed halls but in the grace of the garden. Surrounding this historic Palm Beach church are colorful plantings of unusual tropical plants like the big leafed sea grape. Behind, the lively Cluett Memorial Garden invites a stroll, where the fishes – colorful koi – will follow you until you break bread with them. Find a moment of serenity here.

Cellon Oak Park

Sandra Friend — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:03:52 +0000

Florida’s largest live oak is just south of the tiny town of LaCrosse in rural north Alachua County. Known as the Cellon Oak, it’s so expansive that the cover of “Big Trees in Florida” shows 30-some-odd people linking hands to approximate the width of the tree’s crown. It’ll help you put yourself in perspective!

Along Lake Wauberg

Sandra Friend — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:14:25 +0000

Making a late trip to Micanopy, I arrived at Paynes Prairie State Park mindful of sunset’s approach. A wander along Lake Wauberg to the symphony of Archie Carr’s favorite frogs brought memories flooding back of gentler times before the gators chased the swimmers away and the parking lot was still full to overflow. I settled onto a bench to watch the sun shimmer across the waves until it was time to leave, caught in a cascade of memories. Savoring sunset from the boardwalk at US 441 made a fine close to the day.

Sholom Park

Sandra Friend — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:01:06 +0000

Sunlight illuminates each strand of a longleaf pine’s wiry crown, dappling the lawns and mulch with patches of shadow and light. There is an earthy smell to the air, cast up by the rumbling fountain before me that masks the sound of road noise beyond. Crows quarrel in the treetops. This is a quiet retreat for many, a garden I left out of my latest book – perhaps accidentally on purpose? Everywhere I look, people are striding along the concrete paths through cultivated gardens and natural habitats. I come here to remember, to honor, and to find peace. Sholom.

Once in a Blue Moon

Sandra Friend — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:38:37 +0000

It’s a blue moon tonight. I couldn’t help but pull off the Tamiami Trail at Kirby Storter and bask in the glow. I wanted my parents to be here, to savor the mystery of the swamps brushed by moonlight, the cypress domes aglow, the night air filled with chirps and squawks and the occasional bloodcurdling scream of a limpkin. There is no better place to be on a blue moon than in the heart of Big Cypress.

Getaway to Gatorland

Sandra Friend — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:45:03 +0000

Egret in mating plumage at Gatorland

It’s amazing how many years it took me to get to Gatorland for the first time – my first visit was less than a decade ago – given my family’s love of natural attractions. I took the occasion of my mother’s birthday to take my parents their for their first time, and boy, were they sorry we didn’t go there back in the 60s. Founded in 1949, it’s not an enormous park, but it’s so packed with wildlife that if you’re an avid photographer like me, you’ll easily spend most of the day there. It’s a birders delight, too. We arrived at the peak of breeding season, with the birds in bright and showy plumage, and spotted some species that we rarely see, like roseate spoonbills winging their way overhead.

No doubt about it – if you’re headed for Orlando, make sure you get to Gatorland. Set in a natural cypress swamp – in a spot where most of the natural habitats are now erased from the landscape by development – it’s an immersion into what this part of Central Florida used to be. Walk the boardwalks, marvel at the ancient reptiles, savor the birds, and bring the young ones, who can play in the splash playground, ride the train, go “oooh” at snakes, and hold a baby gator.

Learn more about Gatorland