Tag Archives: lily pads

Fun things at Lake Mirror

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Color at Hollis Garden in Lakeland in early May.

I thought these lily pad were cool holding the water in their leaves. Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland was full of them.

There’s a reason they are called “common” moorhens. They are everywhere and they have tons of babies starting in the spring.

I noticed this baby grackle screaming at his Mom for food. He was hopping around behind Mom but I think she was trying to get him to feed himself. He was old enough to be able to do that.

Across Lake Morton a new building was going up. The flags would have looked very magestic if they weren’t so worn out.

I don’t alway stop at Lake Mirror after a walk at Circle B Bar Reserve but this morning in early May I only did a short walk at Circle B and then went over to Lake Mirror. I was in the mood for some spring flowers that were in bloom at Hollis Gardens which sits right on the lake.

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Getting out in the gardens

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Still so many pretty flowers at Bok Tower Gardens in November. The big lily pads were still blooming.

I hadn’t seen any frogs there in several years so I was excited to see this guy in a small pond.

Little flying critters.

I’ve taking a ton of pictures of the bell tower but this was the first time I noticed that there was a calendar carved in the back of the tower. I’m not sue what the lines mean. Has anyone seen this before?

There were still lots of caterpillars in mid-November.

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Bok Tower Gardens in early September

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Shots from my early September trip to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales Florida. There’s always interesting things to see there.

The front door to the Carillon bell tower.

From the bell tower area, you can see down into the valley.  The bell tower sits on one of the highest elevated areas in Florida. An orange grove sits right outside the gardens.

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A first visit to Bok Tower Gardens – Skywatch Friday

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The bell tower building contains 60 bells and was finished in 1929.

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Looking straight up, it’s pretty tall.

DSC_7047The details in the openings at the top have different birds. The gardens started out as a bird sanctuary by Edward Bok. The 30 year editor of the Ladies Home Journal magazine would spend his winters in Lake Wales and developed the gardens with the help of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr ( his dad developed Central Park and Prospect Park in New York) and many others.

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The door no one enters. To tour the inside of the bell tower, you need to have a high level of membership to go inside on one of the very few tours a year.

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The lily pads were amazing.

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Beautiful purple buds growing around the lily pads.

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I was hoping to see frogs sitting in them but no luck there.

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I’ve never seen these blooms before.

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Looking down over a citrus grove, the bell tower sits on one of the highest points in central Florida.

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The gardens were decorated for Halloween.

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When did black and white pumpkins become so popular? Some had the spray paint starting to peel off. I guess I like the traditional orange ones.

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The spider was pretty cool, made with pumpkins and branches.

I’ve been saying I want to visit Bok Tower Gardens for the last 5 years. I finally made it there on a rare random Monday off. It’s just under an hour and a half from my house so I need to get there more often. It was a beautiful day and very few people there. I took a ton of pictures so more to come.

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