2021 Aug 10, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens Nashville, Tennessee

Hubby and I traveled the backroads to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville, TN, via Natchez Trace, getting off at the Leipers Fork exit. Hubby parked the car near the entrance and showed the girl at the ticket counter our online tickets.

Pink LEGO Dog 

The first thing we saw as we entered the gardens was a big pink dog made out of Lego blocks. We walked down a long winding sidewalk down several sets of steps to the Train Exhibit, inspired by the Little Engine Who Could.

In front of us was a couple with a very independent little girl with a head full of curls who was about the age of 2 or three years of age. What a magical place as you enter the land of trains and Fairy mushroom villages. The train exhibit was built of rough timbers and five train tracks totaling over 800 feet of track. As we walked through, we saw trains going over bridges and through tunnels, we were in a magical land of trains.

We saw beautiful yellow lilies floating in the lily ponds. We saw pink, orange, white, and red roses busted with life in the Rose Study Garden.

Roses

We saw art pieces made of musical notes made of wire. We saw many Yellow and Black swallowtails on the butterfly bushes.

Yellow Swallowtail 

We saw a red lion, a zebra, a blue bear, colorful birds, a red turtle, a green lawnmower, and a man working in the garden, all made out of Legos. Also, LEGO rabbits were spotted throughout the Bradford Robertson Color Garden. We walked around the mansion, but not inside. Workers were repairing the pool in front of the Mansion in the Martain Boxwood Gardens.

Cheekwood Mansion 

There were waterfalls, ponds, and creeks running through the gardens. We did visit the Art Bark exhibit, which was crayon sculptures by Nashville artist Herb Williams. Inside the visitor center were restrooms, drink machines, and a beautiful rose LEGO sculpture. We took a break to cool off, drink a soda, and use the restrooms before beginning our journey home, We did not walk the entire gardens but had a wonderful time. We traveled home along the backroads, this time taking a different route. We came out in Columbia, TN. We got a late lunch of fish at Long John Silvers and took it home.

2021 Sep 26, Day Trip to Huntsville Botanical Gardens Huntsville, Alabama

Arrived at 11 AM, just as the gardens were opening. My first stop was the Purdy Butterfly Gardens, where I saw several Gulf Fritillary Butterflies, red-spotted Admiral butterflies, Zebra Long-wing butterflies, monarch butterflies, great southern white butterflies, the white peacock butterflies, and the common buckeye butterflies. I spotted several Blue Jays and heard a woodpecker but never saw it. I also heard several other species of birds and saw a snake as I was coming out of the wooded area. I walked through the vegetable garden, where I saw just a few, including one big orange pumpkin and a few vines with fruit dangling on them.

I saw the fruit of Japanese Persimmons hanging on the trees. On the tree next to them was a thorny tree with Trifoliate orange fruit hanging on it. I also saw lying on the ground an osage orange, so you can see there was plenty of fruit for the animals. I spotted a praying mantis on a small limb. I saw several turtles swimming and lying along the bank of the pond.

I saw pink and purple blooming asters and mums of purple. I even spotted a pink rose. I spotted a gray heron and several turtles lying on the bank near the butterfly house. Uncaged: Birds, Nature & You, along with Night Blooms, still fill the gardens.

Some of the scarecrows that I saw were Santa’s Helper, Mr. Antsy Pants, Zooey the ZooKeeper, It's a Girl Scout Vibe, Frida Kahlo, The Scarecrow Dietitian, Terry Lewis “Herb’s wife:/Herb the Birdman, Papa’s Pumpkins, Mr. Crow the Birdwatcher, Dog Day Bride, Collaborative Carl, We can do the job, Snow Fairy, Betelgeuse Scary Spirit, Sir Night fo make it right, Faith, Service, Diversity, Page Turner, Autumn, Larry If I only had a spaceship, Rooted,

Mr. Morgan, Bill the birdwatcher, Johnny Apple Seed and Demeter, Find Your Space, South Huntsville Sam, Auntie Smile, Miss Mary, La Ofrenda, Rosie the Refunder, Discovery Daisy, Lady Golfer, Noah, Cedrick Crow pin, Meets the Adams Family, Tiger, and Crow, & Voting Violet. I saw several people in line to go into the park as I was leaving. I spotted a lady with a Nikon camera, so I walked up to her and told her where I had seen the heron and all the butterflies that were not inside the Purdy Butterfly House. She asked me about my camera, and I said I had been taking pictures for many years. She said she had just started with her new camera. It started out a cool morning by afternoon, it was hot. I walked back to the car, ate the bowl of nuts and the diet Sprite that I had brought, and rested a few minutes before starting the hour-and-a-half drive home. That morning, I had stopped at Wheeler Dam to see the waterfowl. There were several people fishing and more coming to fish. I asked a young man about the waterfowl, and he said there were a few, but a couple of days back, they were more than he had ever seen there. I guess I miss them. I did get a couple of shots of a heron catching a fish.

History of the Mound House in Lee County Fort Myers Fl

Mound House 

People and Plants

People and Plants

The story of people and plants provides a continuous thread from the Calusa to early Estero Island settlers, and to the present and future generations. With all the great advances in science and technology, people still rely on natural resources to provide food, medicine, rules, building materials, textiles, and dyes. 

 Plants Fuel a Society 

Fire is important to the development of cultures. The Calusa used fire to cook, and to help carve out logs to create canoes. Archaeologists who studied this shell mound gathered a sample of the soil to be tested for botanicals. The test yielded 19,340 botanical items - 90% of which were charred wood. The most common was mangroves (77%), followed by pine or oak (21%). In addition to wood, researchers identified nutshells and nutmeat, seeds, and grass stems. 

 Edible Plants 

The Calusa diet was centered on aquatic foods, yet research shows they also gathered seasonal nuts, seeds, and fruit. Nuts found during the excavation were primarily high-protein acorns and 91% of the seeds collected were saw palmetto seeds. Many of these seeds were found together indicating the Calusa gathered the seeds when seasonally available. 

 Frond Shelters 

Whether it was the Calusa, the Cuban fisherman who set up ranchos or coastal fishing camps, or the late 19th-century settlers-everyone needed shelter. They survived by using natural materials to create protective structures. Palm fronds and tree trunks could be assembled together with twine made from Spanish moss. Perhaps their “houses” were similar to this circa 1910 palm shack. Records indicate that the first homesteader, Robert Gilbert, built a thatched structure on the mound site.

Plants and Progress

Plants and Progress

It is hard to imagine now, but when the earliest settlers arrived on the Mound the surrounding habitat was very different. Native plants dominated the landscape. Years would pass before the Estero Island settlers could profit from agricultural pursuits. 

 A Case of Fruit From the Case Grove 

By the early 1900s, settlers were raising tropical fruit crops with some success. The coastal hammock or hardwood tree grove, west of the mound was converted into orchards and fields. This is where William and Milia Case raised figs, bananas, grapefruits, mangos, papayas, tomatoes, and limes. They likely sold their fruits to local markets. 

 Fort Myers Cash Crop 

Farming was a predominant industry on the island as well as on the mainland. Many farmers experimented by growing a wide variety of products including grapes, oranges, avocados, grapefruits, pineapples, sapodillas, coconuts, and peaches. Eventually, grapefruit emerged as the leading cash crop in the Fort Myers area. By 1915, statewide citrus production reached 10 million boxes a year. 

 Walk Through the Garden of History 

You walk along the paths of the Mound House site and look for a variety of tropical fruit trees. While the Case family planted similar botanicals, these are newly planted to show the diversity of the crops grown on the setter’s properties over the past 100 years.