In preparation for this journal I spent a lot of time being grateful for my mother-in-law Helen A. Ellis, who had the vision for the garden where I call home. When she arrived in 1968, she could see the ocean a half mile away from her patio. Her home was on the golf course at Ocean Reef, which began as a fishing camp, with a small lodge developed by Roger Baker beginning in 1945. Prior to its development, the area had been planted with key limes and orange groves. Due to its high elevation of nearly 14 ft. our land was nicknamed "nose-bleed hill,” and originally was the site of a hardwood hammock, full of mahogany, lignumvitae, stoppers, figs, mastic, milkbark, and gumbo limbo with large branches full of glistening tree snails. In the name of progress, everything was leveled to make way for homesites on stark, barren coral rock fill, Helen understood about landscape planning, but the Florida garden is so different than gardens up north. I still have her reference books, full of dog eared pages, notes, and clippings from the Miami Herald. For the last 50 years “Florida Landscape Plants” (John V. Watkins) and “Your Florida Garden” (John V. Watkins and Herbert S. Wolfe) are still the go-to manuals for Florida native and exotic plants. Helen asked a local gardener for some trees to plant. His name was "Joe Ficus". One day he arrived with three logs cut from tropical trees He put them in our poor, sandy, salty, coral rock soil. This wasn't an instant garden, it would take time and vision... thankfully Helen had a little of both. The stumps were Bombax (Pseudobombax ellipticum), African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata) and Tiger's Claw (Erythrina livingstonia), trees that only grow in the tropics, and in the warmest locations in Florida, The gardener understood that if the cutting was planted and taken care of, that it would grow to a full size tree. That is the magic about South Florida... everything grows. Trees are an essential element in the Florida garden because they provide shade during our very hot and sunny days here. The moment you enter my driveway, the temperature drops at least 10 degrees. Large trees should be planted away from the house to minimize damage in case of storms, yet provide shade for energy conservation during the hot afternoon sun. All summer long the Bombax has dense green foliage, and It grows to 75 feet, and is about as wide as it is tall. It likes full sun, and is a perfect Keys plant. Late winter, this relative to the shaving brush tree, drops all its leaves, and reveals a tangle of green branches. Then flower buds begin to appear, looking a bit like an acorn, each day expanding outward, and elongating until about 5-6 inches long and about an inch wide. The Bombax (Bombacaeae) from the Greek for silk for contents of the seed pods, adds interest particularly when it is in full bloom in March and April when the spectacular flowers cause many to stop and take notice. The blooms when they emerge last just one day. It is called the "penis" tree by some. I rather equate it to a banana peel. When ready the bloom’s outer casing splits and curls, revealing a fireworks like burst of a flaming pinkish red bloom. If you are walking by and you don't happen to look up to see the blooms, you may be drawn in by the sound of bees buzzing overhead... a kind of pollinator block party. Scurrying from flower to flower a squirrel drinks from the nectar cup. Monk parakeets and red bellied wood peckers jockey for position on a flower, while a hummingbird zips in and out of the nectar filled cups. The landscape that Helen built, and I now steward is full of life. We can make a difference in our landscapes if we plant trees, shrubs and ground cover that provides essential elements for wildlife.
If someone were to ask, what was better before it was discovered? I'd say the Florida Keys before air-conditioning and the water pipeline. It had hardwood hammocks that sloped down to a natural mangrove shoreline that filtered runoff, protected it from storms, and at the same time was a nursery for baby fish, crabs and sea life, which provided food for the birds and bigger fish and so on. Our family wasn't the first to come to the Keys, and there will be scores after us, coming for whatever reason floats their boat, and they'll need docks and a place to lay their heads at night, places to shop, be entertained and relax... even play some golf... and so the story goes.
0 Comments
Often when people move to the Keys, the first thing they try to do is make their new home just like the place they left. Locals can pick up pretty quickly who these “they do it where I come from” newcomers are; within five minutes of meeting Angela and Brian, and observing their efforts to caretake our fragile Florida Keys environment, I knew they were a good fit here. They came down as a family when their middle child Logan was transferred to Coast Guard Station Islamorada, and once here, decided not to leave. Jokingly Brian and Angela aways said, “when the kids are gone we are going to quit our jobs, run away to the Keys and become bartenders, live in a one room shack with an A/C that is halfway broken and they wouldn’t care if there are roaches!” A positive twist on the old story “Come on vacation… leave on probation.” They researched house prices, and soon realized they couldn’t quit their jobs and become bartenders. Luckily, their jobs allowed them to work from anywhere, so they got more of their full dream than most anyone would want. The house they found online, located in Harry Harris Park, from an aerial view on Zillow, was your typical pea rock yard and stilt house property. The backyard borders a natural mangrove and buttonwood preserve, which if you were to crawl a few hundred yards through the County owned property, you could reach the shoreline. Soon after moving in Angela noticed shells near the A/C condensate drainpipe, picked one up, and saw it was a land hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus). In honor of their new-found friends, Brian and Angela named their property ~ “Crustacean Plantation”. Never having had a hermit crab as a pet, her first reaction was “I don’t know how this works,” but she learned. She started by counting her hermit crab encounters, and began numbering the shells. At some point past 100 crabs she stopped counting. Hermit crabs have soft abdomens which require protection of a shell, and who require bigger shells to suit their bodies as they grow. She observed encounters where one crab was trying to hijack another crab’s shell. A crab will approach a shell, be it occupied or not and tap on it with it’s own shell. If it is occupied it will continue it’s incessant thumping until the resident crab gives up the shell willingly, or is evicted by force. Lost pinchers or legs found on the ground, are evidence of crab shell fights. Realizing a need, Angela started purchasing shells to put out in a designated “Transfer Station” and almost immediately small or broken shells were traded off for the new and roomier models, kinda like a used car lot for hermit crabs. Broken shells are left vacant, as they no longer provide protection or cannot hold fresh water needed to lubricate the crab’s gills. Angela and Brian have spent hours in the garden, adding mulch and soil, making new beds for the native and flowering plants, and adding water sources for the critters. Bricks and boulders line the raised beds full of soil and mulch. Hermit crabs need soil or sand substrate in order for them to molt; since the Keys doesn’t have dirt, the hermit crabs must surface molt or find leaves, and bury themselves during this vulnerable time. In their new beds, Angela and Brian have seen little dig piles where a hermit crab has gone to molt. We have provided them a “crabitat” - something they probably wouldn’t normally have. Creeping zoysia grass covers the former barren pea rock yard, leading up to an undisturbed tidal rocky area in the back of the property where the crabs hang out. As we approach we can hear clacking as the crabs retreat and their claw clamps shut the shell opening; hermit crabs have keen eyesight so it is hard to sneak up on one. We stare at the rocks, and soon detect movement; a shell blending in perfectly contains a hermit crab on the move. A sign “Hermit Highway” designates where the crabs cross to go to the ocean to lay their eggs, and after having done so return to the dry land to resume their lives. The “Crustacean Plantation” is on the Garden Club of the Upper Keys garden walk, Sat. Feb 17, 2024. It is located in the Harry Harris Park area, a hidden gem, full of natural beauty, and a livable community for those who work here, and the creatures who were here before we came.
You might want to bring along a shell or two for a hermit crab in need With its cooler, dryer temperatures, winter has finally arrived in the Florida Keys and the time to get out and explore nature is right here and now. With that in mind I signed up for the 2023 Croc Lake Audubon Christmas Bird Count. In its 5th year since becoming an official Count Circle, I was assigned to a group with an experienced birder and other volunteers to seek out and identify birds, keep the bird tally log, and photograph. The Christmas Bird Count is in its 124th year dating back to 1900, when ornithologist Frank Chapman started the tradition of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them. Prior to 1900, a "Christmas Side Hunt" tradition existed, where hunters at a Christmas gathering, would divide into teams, go out for an afternoon of killing wildlife, both furred and feathered, and return to tally up the dead carcasses and declare a winner. Can't really say anyone was the winner, as the animals were not even intended for the dining table. This was my second attempt at joining the CBC event. In 2022 I showed up ill prepared for the rainy weather, as we walked through wet grass, with now wet feet, plus my new camera anxiety caused me to quit after only an hour. The goal is to arrive at 7 am and count the entire day, and finish about 5 pm. So for 2023 I set out prepared. I had weather appropriate, lightweight clothing and closed toed shoes, a waterproof backpack to stash my camera gear in case of rain, sunscreen, water, and I had the most important item needed - an inexpensive pair of binoculars recommended by Audubon. In 2023 again we had rain, in fact four days of tropical squalls and daylong downpours preceded the count. The Sunday morning of the CBC, the weather was clearing, but rain arrived early. Our group decided to take a breakfast break until the rain cleared. Fellow volunteer and woodsman Jack rationalized, ”If the birds aren’t out in the rain, we probably shouldn’t be either.” An organized group event such as the CBC, held annually between December 14th and January 5th, is a great way to be outdoors and meet new people, and the count is free and open to everyone regardless of bird ID skill level. Don’t worry about what you don’t know, naturalists are very willing to share their knowledge with you. Birding is a challenge for sure. Especially if you are not familiar with their calls, have poor hearing or don’t know what you are looking at. I can check all of the above boxes! It was hilarious as the group would point out a bird that for the life of me I could not see. That’s normal, the bird has stopped moving, they assured me, look for the movement of the leaves. That helped, and when finally I saw the bird there would be a celebration. After finding the bird, raising the camera and getting in focus, I had to act quickly before the bird is gone. I guess that's why I have a lot of photos of birds flying away! The thrill of the hunt! The CBC is a great example of citizen science, the practice of enlisting a large group of volunteers to collect and share data as part of a larger story. Our group, one of six in this year’s Croc Lake CBC, sited 26 different species and 259 birds total that day. Aside from organized events such as the CBC, individuals can collect data on their own. Our group leader Chrissy told me she keeps track of the species of birds, and the dates they arrive to her yard. When I asked if she shared the info, she said it was more so she would know when to expect some of her favorite birds. My birder friend Harold encouraged me to enter data on eBird after my rare sighting of Black Swans in Key Largo this summer. He emphasized the importance of recording sightings, as trends show up over time, and are used to study the long-term health of bird populations. The only way the CBC could have been more fun is if there were more people doing it. By the end of the long day, we were power walking the trails so we could get to all the areas on our list. It would have been much better with more volunteers to divide the territory up into smaller portions and spend more time in observation. The weather’s great and the birds are here. Grab a friend and take a walk outside at Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, located on County Road 905, half-mile north of the intersection with U.S. Highway 1 at Mile Marker 106. It is open from sunrise to sunset 365 days a year.
|
CAROL ELLIS
This photographic website provides me the opportunity for self-expression, for sharing Archives
February 2024
TAGS
All
|