Tag: orlando

Camellias blooming in January

On By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Vacation2 Comments

While Brett and I were in Orlando for a long weekend to visit with friends we went for a quick walk at Mead Gardens. We had not been before and the first thing we noticed was all of the camellia bushes were blooming. There were a lot of them around the nature center.

There were so many new buds coming out.

The parking areas were pretty full and we realized there was a camellia flower show and contest going on inside. There were so many beautiful colors and patterns. How could you judge them? You would really have to have an eye for details in them. I wouldn’t be able to pick a winner. They would all be winners.

There were a few rose bushes as well.

We spent an hour walking the trails and looking for critters which were scarce. It was chilly this morning. On the trails it felt more like a park than actual gardens but it was still beautiful.

I did see several gopher tortoises along the trail. I was able to zoom in with my phone and catch the above while hiding behind a bush.

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A road trip across the state.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants, Vacation3 Comments

In mid-January Brett and I had a long weekend in Orlando. We were meeting up with some friends on Saturday night but came over early Friday afternoon and went to Disney Springs for a walk and had an early dinner there. We didn’t go to a theme park since we’ve done them so many times over the years. Disney Springs is free and a fun place to walk around and have dinner.

So many beautiful colors in January. This was before the big freeze in early February. We spent the morning at Leu Gardens. We have never been here before and it was a nice place to walk around and luckily a lot was still blooming.

This butterfly posed for me while I took this with my phone since I didn’t bring my camera on this trip.

The historic home at the gardens was built in 1888 and had 4 different owners. The last was Harry P Leu who gifted the house and gardens in 1960.

The statue shows a worker picking citrus. The 2nd owners grew citrus trees on the property after the land had been farmed for many years.

You can tour the house and it was cool to see the historic furniture. The bathrooms and kitchen had been somewhat updated and that yellow bathroom looked like it was stuck in the 60’s.

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Tricolored heron babies

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Just a few crazy baby tricolored herons from my recent trip to Gatorland in Orlando. The mangrove bushes were full of nests. I think these birds get the prize for being the funniest looking babies. Most of the great egret babies were getting big and the tricolored heron babies were just being born. I think all of these are only a few days old. They were constantly screaming to be fed. Next are the blue herons and cattle egrets. They start a little later in the season. They were just building nests and sitting on eggs. Hopefully, those will be born in time for my trip in May.