Palm Cottage Gardens

[Central Floridave]

I'm going to attempt to get over to Orlando on Saturday and take some photos. But, Central Florida Palm and Cycad Society meeting Saturday, Oct 16, 2010

"Palm Cottage Gardens was Florida's first experimental botanical garden where Dr. Nehrling tested over 3,000 new and rare plants for the USDA. By the early 1900s it was a popular destination for thousands of tourists, nature lovers, and new Florida settlers. Many prominent people of the era, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Theodore Mead and Dr. David Fairchild, marveled at the garden and celebrated Nehrling's extraordinary work."

more info:

http://www.palmtalk....showtopic=25388

[Central Floridave]

Fish-tail palms or fancy caladiums, amaryllis or bromeliads—if you're interested in important landscapes you can rejoice that the Henry Nehrling Society has saved the remnants of Palm Cottage Gardens for posterity. Thanks to a generous grant and donations, as well as a large personal loan, the society was able to buy the 6.5-acre property from its longtime private owner (and Nehrling enthusiast) for $450,000 on Nov. 30, after a decade-long campaign. Here, just outside Orlando, from the mid-1880s until his death in 1929, Henry Nehrling collected, planted and shared thousands of varieties of tropical and subtropical plants imported from Central and South America, China and Japan, the South Seas, Europe and India. But he also loved the flora he found in Florida, declaring "Native plants should always form the foundation of every garden." Now rundown and overgrown, Palm Cottage Gardens is still redolent of "Old Florida," and inch for inch its grounds are some of the most historic in American horticulture.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703483604574630101983975552.html

[Central Floridave]

I almost didn't go this morning. Beautiful weather and my yard wanted me to stay home, but after three cups of strong coffee I got out the door and made the hour+ long drive over to Orlando. The area of Orlando is very near all the theme parks. Disney, to Universal Studios, to Sea World...all world class theme parks all clustered in the SW corner of Orange County/Orlando and along the I-4 Corridor.

First stop Dave Witt's.

[Central Floridave]

Pretty good turnout by the club. Dave Witt has been growing palms for a long time. You may see his name in the Enc. of Cultivated Palms in various places. He is a professional landscaper and indoor pest control.

[Central Floridave]

Side yard. Most of the tour talked about what survived and what didn't survive the past freezes (this past winter was frigid), and also a garage fire. Here is the side yard.

[Central Floridave]

cycad

[Central Floridave]

pulled back shot of some cycad. sorry I don't know what kind.

[Central Floridave]

I was surpised to see this large screw pine and spindle, or maybe indica palms survive. I think I heard Dave Witt said it got down to 23F. I lost some of mine screw pine at 30F. So, that house must be offereing some warmth.

[Central Floridave]

candid shot.

[Central Floridave]

Sabal yapa

[Central Floridave]

Dypsis mananjanaris (sorry, too lazy to look up correct spelling).

[Central Floridave]

He had these huuuuuuge and tall bismarcks towering over everything else. One female and one male. They were throwing seeds everywhere.

[Patrick]

Ugh, you guys in Florida with so much great stuff, just casually growing here & there; in gardens with "experimental" tropical specimens. I wish the folks out here would wake up and stop growing pine trees.

Thnks for the pics, I enjoyed them! I guess I'll have to put this one down on the list as ANOTHER place to try to visit the next time in Fla!

[Central Floridave]

seashore palm Allagoptera

[Central Floridave]

"Thnks for the pics, I enjoyed them!"

You are welcome. I just got a new camera a couple months ago and I'm still trying to learn its features. It takes pretty good photos for just being a point-n-click and in auto-mode. It is a Canon PowerShot SD4000.

[Central Floridave]

I like how everyone gathers around a plant and the host talks about it, a few questions here-n-there, some info exchanged, a moment of silence, then move over to the next specimen and do it again...

You gotta love plant people!

[Central Floridave]

Spiney palm. The name is slipping my mind right now. I'm not very good with scientific names without looking them up.

[Central Floridave]

A 'cool' front came through on Friday night so we get a little shot of that SoCal blue skies and low humidity for a day or two. 'skeeters are still bad however.

[_Rich]

Spiney palm. The name is slipping my mind right now. I'm not very good with scientific names without looking them up.

Acrocomia aculeata? Macaw / Gru-Gru Palm?

[Central Floridave]

"Acrocomia" Thanks!

[Central Floridave]

Bismarcks are becoming ubiquitos around Central Florida. Dave Witt was ahead of the bizzie fad and is awarded with the tallest palms I have ever seen in the Orlando area. Leu Gardens may have one taller though.

[Central Floridave]

some strange bamboo

[Trópico]

#17 is Acrocomia totai

#18 is Livistona rigida

[Central Floridave]

Here we are again. That is Dave Witt to the right in the blue shirt...giving us some wit. I thought he was talking ancient greek or latin at times when naming the plants and describing them. He is knowledgable on plants.

[Central Floridave]

???

[Central Floridave]

John Kennedy with a closer inspection of the discoloration on this frond. Described as possible variegation.

[Central Floridave]

tall ones.

[Central Floridave]

more spiney palms

[Central Floridave]

.

[Central Floridave]

this gives some perspective on how tall the bizzies are.

[_Rich]

more spiney palms

Salacca sp?

[Central Floridave]

Fish eye lens. Like a preacher at a funeral, Dave Witt is describing how that palm died. May it Rest In Peace...

[Central Floridave]

"Salacca sp?" #28 and #29 are two different palms.

[_Rich]

"Salacca sp?" #28 and #29 are two different palms.

I was thinking #28 was a Salacca. #29 is another Acrocomia?

[Central Floridave]

Every palm had a story attached to it.

[Central Floridave]

Bismarckia volunteers blending in with the St.Augustine grass.

[Central Floridave]

Sabal doming... er, the one from Dominican Republic... that is a Silk Floss tree to the right. It was very tall. I didn't think those were cold tolerant and would grow this far North. But, there it was and in full bloom.

[Central Floridave]

That was it for Dave Witt's garden. The drive to Henry Nehrling's place was a short ten minute drive. Thanks Dave for letting us tour your yard. Nice Palms!

[Central Floridave]

I stopped by Yellow Dog Cafe on the way and this place was very eccentric. The food was excellent and unique. The owner sat down and started chatting with us and the conversation led us to where we were going, Dr. Nehrling's place.

It turned out the owner actually owns a part of it and is a big supporter of the restoration process. The Yellow Dog eatery was in an old 1880 house and was probably around when Dr. Nehrling lived there. It was only about a block and half away.

Gotha was a town in the 1800's that was established by immigrant Germans. Not too much of the old buildings remain due to it being swallowed up by the McMansion Development all around.

[Central Floridave]

I'll post the rest early Sunday morning while sipping some coffee!

Nehrling Gardens was just obtained by the Henry Nehrling Society. They have lofty goals of turning it into a public garden and research botanical garden.

however, they are running up against current society's apathy for history, and bulldozers have eaten up all but 6 acres of the original 50+ acres. It is a very wooded area with hundreds of fresh water lakes scattered around.

It is in prime real estate area and if it not saved by a few individuals over the decades it would have been paved over by now.

More later.