The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Bugs, buds, birds - each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
Maclay Gardens State Park
Tallahassee, FL
Leap Year Day 2012
These historic gardens are on US 319 to the north of I-10 at exit 203. Please follow the link for more about the gardens; the history tab is quite interesting and there is no point repeating when we can jump right to the good stuff - flower pictures!
Previous diary on the antique bricks used for the walkways is here.
To get us oriented, here is a snapshot of the park guide. The calendar of blooms is nice but with a warm winter and early spring like this year, who knows.
This pretty shot is outside the main entrance to the gardens. That's annual rye making the lawn bright green; Live Oak in center with Dogwood and Camellia blooming on either side. Live Oaks are just now dropping last year's leaves as new leaves come out and catkins develop. A fine way for nature to mulch the ground each spring.
This is the walkway first seen after entering. The Magnolia chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society maintains an area to the right. On the left side was an invasive Nandina. Park staff put up a sign explaining why they left it as a historically common but bad plant. Staff attempts to control its spread but I just wanted to rip them all out.
Here's a series of photos around the central pond.
Going up a slight rise from the pond were these azalea beds. Alas, about a week before prime blooms. Right now should be great!
Back on the bricks, we headed up to the old house.
And here is the Maclay house. It's not that big and as the docent explained, it was originally a hunting camp. This land north of Tallahassee really was the wild woods a hundred years ago. Now it's the middle of subdivisions and shopping.
Inside were the original furnishings Louise Maclay left to the state with the house and gardens. Rooms consisted of a lovely living room that must have seen many a party, the library and a bedroom. I heard later about a Tiffany lamp inside but I missed that one. The other room in the house had been turned into a museum to explain the garden and history. Besides establishing the garden, Alfred also collected glass bottles. Here's a display of stuffed birds common to the area. How many can you name?
This is the Walled Garden. We stopped and talked to the lady pulling weeds in the pansy bed. She mentioned that many a wedding is held there and by the Reflection Pool.
It was a cloudy day and only having the iPhone meant I didn't get all the close-up photos I wanted. This one is not too bad - Florida Anise
One of the camellias with a busy bee.
Camellias dropping their blooms making a lovely blanket.
And finally, for those not familiar with the Deep South, Pond Cypress along the lake with Spanish Moss.
Hope you enjoyed the stroll around the Maclay Gardens. It was a typical spring day in Tallahassee - cloudy and maybe showers and then sunny and warm. So what's going on in your neck of the woods?