Coming to the Florida Keys, I always feel as if we are entering a foreign place with strange and wonderful sights. My years of being a bit of a plant nut and Master Gardener are thrown to the winds as I spot plant after exotic plant that I cannot even begin to identify.
This diversity is always brought to the forefront when Juana and I attend the Upper Keys Garden Walk, which occurred last weekend. We visited five different gardens, each with a different focus. The first was more a hermit crab sanctuary than a garden as the owners described their move to the house as more a cohabitation with a plethora of crustaceans. So their garden was crab courteous and friendly. You just had to be careful where you stepped.
The other houses were equally interesting with a wide variety of plants that I could only identify at a very basic level. (I know the difference between an orchid and bromeliad but beyond that . . .)
The thing that struck Juana and I was that the differences in the gardens appeared as a function of the houses they surrounded. Very simple, older Keys-styled homes had the most interesting and lovely gardens while expensive, larger ones had gardens that were perfectly manicured but boring and simple.
I guess money can’t by true plant love. Enjoy some of the plants we discovered. We will linger in the warmth before we make our way North again.
