Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

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It's been a long time since I've visited Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, located on the edge of my town of Gainesville, Florida. Because our weather has gone from bitter cold to warm enough for the college kids to wear shorts, literally overnight, I decided to make a visit there today. A lot of what I saw had been damaged by the sub-freezing temps of the last few days, but if I go back in a few weeks I'll be able to get some completely different shots of blooming flowers and leafy trees.

The plums were in bloom, as they are always the first to pop.





Here's one of the labyrinth guardians.



Several workers were busy removing blankets from some of the more sensitive plants. I suspect the ladder was left up by this beautiful staghorn fern for future use.



Which reminds me......I am no plant expert, so please feel free to correct any mistakes I might make in plant identification.


The gardens are well known for their stands of bamboo.




The camellias seemed undamaged and there were even a few azaleas blooming in a protected area. I'll get back to them later.








I had no hopes of seeing blossoms, but it's even hard to believe this is the rose garden area.







Here and there pansies lent a little color.

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Banana plants rarely ever survive our winters, so this was no surprise.












These ferns were pretty fried by the cold temperatures, but they'll grow back soon enough.




Now, passing more bamboo as we head towards a really fun space.




The children's area. It's filled with whimsical delights, and poisonous coral snakes, too.

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Heading down the path we pass what I assume is a big fig tree with lots of tiny blossoms on its tips.







Nothing much going on in the butterfly garden.




Though this pretty red bud adds some color.




And the lush green tree in the middle of this photo is a Meyer lemon.

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I wish I had thought to take photos of Japanese Magnolias a week ago when they were in full glory. This one still has a little color, but probably not for long. The ones I saw around town were gorgeous last week.







Across the water I could see several tangerine trees loaded with fruit. They looked to be in fairly decent shape. Perhaps the proximity to the water helped keep their area warmer. If not, they'll soon be dropping their leaves and fruit.







There were lots of birds around, though this little titmouse is just about the only bird photo i took. I could see and hear a hawk up in the tree canopy, and I even heard an owl hooting.







The shape of this tree was fascinating.






I had to touch it to make sure it was real.

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I saw at least two watering stations for canines, so maybe I'll bring my dog next time.




The paths are very nice for walking, though I'll stay away from this area:




Everything in the bulb garden seemed to have spent the cold underneath warm blankets.
















I hadn't known papyrus was so pretty.

[mossie]

I see the Loch Ness Monster has migrated, and those frogs are extra colourful.

Nice gardens and trees.

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Next I headed away from the water area, back towards the camellia and azalea garden.

I love camellias. They remind me of my grandmother and great-grandmother, both avid gardeners in their day. I'm also reminded of the house where my children were raised. We had at least twenty camellia bushes. Many were very old and several reached higher than the roofline of our one story house. I believe they were "pink perfection."













I'm not sure why they are growing Ardisia. I thought it was considered an invasive plant.




Many different types of azaleas bloom in our area too. Sorry this pic is a bit blurry.

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I had been walking in an area on what I believed to be the north side of the gardens, but now I'll pass by the administrative building, Summer House, and move on to the other side.










I believe this is called grape holly.

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At 62 acres in size, Kanapaha is the second largest botanical garden in the state of Florida. Development was started in the 1970's by Don and Jordan Goodman, but the gardens didn't open to the public until approximately ten years later. The main building, Summer House, is named after one of the Goodmans' daughters, Summer, who died in an automobile accident in 1995. Their other daughter, Alexis, is now running the garden operation.

In 2002, while Don Goodman was cleaning out one of the lily ponds he was attacked by a resident alligator and lost the lower half of his right arm. An article in the local newspaper tells the horrifying story: www.gainesville.com/article/20021009/LOCAL/210090343?tc=ar. The tale is also told by Goodman in his book, Summer of the Dragon, which was released in 2007.

The gardens are run as a non-profit and, with only a small number of staff members, volunteers play a big part in helping to keep the gardens in good shape. Financial support comes from the sale of bamboo, an annual spring festival, admission charges, memberships, special events such as weddings and memorial services, donations, and gift shop sales. I actually did my bit to help out by purchasing a small gift for a friend while I was there today.

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There are memorial plaques similar to this one all over the gardens.



I saw at least three sinkholes on the property.




This is a very large herb garden, but certainly not worth much of a look this time of year.




The crown jewel of the gardens is this huge, long-established stand of bamboo.










More Ardisia.

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Off in the distance Lake Kanapaha can be seen.













Taking another turn, I head into the rock garden area.

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The gardens are famous for their giant water lilies.




I'll have to return in July if I want to see them in all their glory.

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A Florida garden would be incomplete without Palm trees.















That's it for now.

[bixaorellana]

SO enjoyable, Htmb, and really stellar photography. Many of the plants are also common in the Gulf south, so I felt quite nostalgic as well. Speaking of which, my grandmother was a fiend for camellias & Pink Perfection was her favorite. Your camellia pictures are really outstanding.

Um, are those real coral snakes in the children's garden? Such a different idea for a petting zoo!

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Mar 1, 2015 1:40:41 GMT bixaorellana said:

SO enjoyable, Htmb, and really stellar photography. Many of the plants are also common in the Gulf south, so I felt quite nostalgic as well. Speaking of which, my grandmother was fiend for camellias & Pink Perfection was her favorite. Your camellia pictures are really outstanding.

Um, are those real coral snakes in the children's garden? Such a different idea for a petting zoo!

No, the coral snakes weren't real, Bixa, but they LOOKED very alive. Made me go through that jingle in my head, "red on yellow....," etc.

[bixaorellana]

They certainly look real in your picture! Does the children's garden also have fake poison ivy, so they can learn the "leaves of three..." rule?

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I'm sure there's plenty of the real stuff around.

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I had planned to get back to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens this summer, ever since my visit last February. The place certainly looked different from my earlier trip. The entryway is through a gift shop where they sell a few pretty things. Here are the Japanese Ojime beads, hand carved out if boxwood and signed by each artist.




I purchased an alligator figure for a friend last February, but I don't see any today.




But that's not why I'm here anyway. I picked one if the hottest, steamiest, buggiest days of the year to visit the gardens so I could finally get a look at the two different types of giant water lily plants for which the park is known. They die off in the winter, but each year the staff replant from seeds. The leaves are typically at their peak around the end of July.

Here's the first; the Santa Cruz.







If you look closely, you can see the spines on the underside of the lily pads. They're to protect the lilies from turtles and fish that find the leaves most tasty.



















The lily flower is white when it first blooms, but turns to a deep pink within two days, before submerging and dropping seeds.

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I wandered about a bit before going to see the other water lilies. There were lots of lizards about, enjoying the sun. I made sure to watch the paths for snakes.




This was a pretty hazardous trip for me. Something on the north side of the park was putting out a pollen or scent that was quite toxic for my eyes. I suffered through itching and burning until I finally wandered far enough away from the offenders; but then the mosquitoes discovered me and, when they weren't stabbing my legs for blood, their friends were buzzing in my ears.







Leafy and green seemed to describe most of what was thriving in the heat.




A new crop of banana plants had grown along the edge of the pond and I discovered some blooms and fruit.







The pepper garden was looking good.













It was relatively early in the morning, so there weren't many pollinators about in the butterfly garden.




Here's another look at the banana plants before walking back their way.

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There were smaller lilies in the children's garden area.




Along with several huge, crape myrtles with their last blooms of the summer.







I'm so glad I got to see this aloe in bloom.

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I finally made it over to the pond on the edge of Lake Kanapaha where I could see the water had overflowed its banks.

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Here were the giant Victoria water lilies.



















I wandered a bit more until I'd had enough of the mosquitoes.


















Perhaps now I'll need to go back in late fall.

[bixaorellana]

What a difference a season makes! This was a beautiful and interesting thread before, Htmb, but your captures of the lush summer growth have made it positively gorgeous.

I was surprised to see so many succulent plants thriving in that steamy environment. Great landscaping throughout the Gardens -- it all looks like it happened naturally. Too many stellar photos to list them all -- the backlit banana, the koi, the darling lizard on the nopal, all of the plant pictures -- but I hope you are patting yourself on the back for that outstanding turtle-on-the-rock picture. Wow!

The mosquitoes were undoubtedly a torment, but I still envy you the visit to this remarkable place.

Pee ess ~ Next time you're there, you might want to tell them that both the Anaheim and the Scotch Bonnet signs do not go with the peppers they purport to identify.

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Bixa, those Mosquitos were so large and vicious that I wouldn't have put it past them to have rearranged the labels.

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Even more than a normal park, botanical gardens are fabulous to see in more than one season, particularly since some plants stand out in the winter but slide into the background starting in the spring when all sorts of vegetation seems to spring out of nowhere for a limited time. And of course it is always nice to see the trees with leaves after seeing just the bare branches.

I really like banana trees, which are not as vulnerable as they look.

[mickthecactus]

That was terrific to see - thanks.

[mickthecactus]

That Poncirus trifoliata "flying dragon" is fantastic! I must have one!

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I was very annoyed with myself for not taking a photo of the "flying dragon" on my last trip. I walked very close to it, but was distracted by trying to get a photo of a cardinal on the bird feeder.