A Long Nature Walk
My boyfriend and I took a four mile walk the other day, it was awesome! If you ask him, he'll say the same, except that it took waaaay longer than it should have because I kept stopping to take photographs of all the neighborhood plants and flowers! Hehe... What can I say, it was a gorgeous sunny day and everything looked so vivid...
Oh, and I'll have you know that I took all of these incredible photographs with my iPhone! I upgraded to the 4GS for my birthday, before that I had the oldest iPhone - the 3G I believe. It still bugs me that the first year or so of my blogging consisted of crappy iPhone photos (before I bought my Canon digital camera), especially during the time when I lived in my two great apartments. So, suffice it to say I am pretty happy with the vast improvement in features, especially the photo quality. I think it's an 8MP camera, not sure. Who cares really, all I care about is how grrrrrreat these photos came out! However, the real credit goes to nature, she must love to be photographed because she never ceases to amaze me.... ;)
I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend, enjoy this little nature photo tour!
(PS: disregard the yellow glow at the edge of a lot of the pictures, I didn't realize it at the time but my old iPhone 3G case was interfering with the camera lens on my new 4GS, bummer - that's what I get for not buying a new case when I got my new phone, ha.)
This is a towering Royal Poinciana, one of my favorite trees due to its pretty wispy leaves and incredible flowers. You can see several Royal Poincianas in bloom in this post that I did in 2010, or the one at the very bottom of this post.
Vivid fuchsia Bougainvillea makes a stark contrast against the clear blue sky, it might as well be the movie start of the neighborhood....
This pretty green monster is Coccoloba uvifera, commonly known as Seagrape or Baygrape, it is a wide spreading evergreen shrub/small tree that is everywhere throughout South Florida and many other tropical areas of the United States, as well as the Caribbean. I love the Seagrape, she has such character... Plus, my childhood best friend and I used to use the leaves and grapes as plates and food while playing our made up "Lost in the Jungle" game in her backyard. Her father installed planks of wood from tree to tree (in a row of like 6 trees), so we would walk and climb from tree to tree, haha.... Memorieeeees....
Apparently, as the leaf ages, it turns completely red! Cool huh? The grapes appear to be in their infancy here, but eventually they get rather plump and reddish... According to Wikipedia, they can be eaten "...raw, cooked into jellies and jams, or fermented into sea grape wine."
Beautiful sunshine yellow flowers blooming on a weed growing out of someone's backyard fence along the sidewalk...
Perfection...
Here is one of many Hibiscus flowers in bloom throughout the neighborhood...
And another Hibiscus flower, this one is called Hibiscus syriacushis, also called Rose of Sharon. This one is my favorite of all, sexy color combination.....
Just look at that....
Yet another Hibiscus flower, a pretty pinkish red color...
This is a different looking Hibiscus flower, incredible salmon pink color and soft layered petals... UPDATE: This is a Double Hybrid Hibiscus - thanks to my dear reader Tamara for the tip!
A powder pink one too! All of these different colored Hibiscus flowers were along the same fence...
Here is another large Bougainvillea looming over a fence...
Tons of orange flowered ground orchids just like the ones from my yard (shown here, here, and here growing at the edge of someone's lawn
I really wish I knew the name of this next plant, it has pink flowers and thin leaves, does anyone know the name? I know for a fact that my grandmother will know, but since she doesn't have a cell or internet there is no way for me to show her right now, and I only got so far explaining it to her in Spanish on the phone just now. I see this plant from time to time around Miami, but it's in the Florida Keys that I've seen it everywhere! I'm pretty sure that there are ones with white flowers too, but no matter how many types of key phrases I Google, I cannot find this plant. UPDATE: I can't believe I didn't know that this is Oleander!! Thanks again Tamara! P.S. Oleander comes with pink or white flowers and is poisonous so beware! She's a toxic beauty.... ;)
I believe these cranberry pink beauties are Lilies...
I'm not sure what this plant is, all I know is that it's spectacular and whimsical! All of the trees in this front yard were surrounded by them, bunches of small pale pink flowers rising out of the bushy green paddle/lilypad-like leaves.... In my last post on flowers I asked my readers for the name of an unidentified plant on my mother's patio and (thanks again to my sweet readers) I got the answer - Cyclamen. THis plant looks similar to Cyclamen, except for variations in the size and shape of the leaf and flower, hmmm... Anyone know? Update: These are called Angel Winged Begonias - thanks to my mother and cousin Gina!
Pretty wispy weeds growing with reckless abandon out from under fences along the sidewalk...
Intertwined tree branches and wines along the same fence, a work of art!
Small lavender flowers growing amongst blades of grass at the edge of someone's lawn...
Purple Bougainvillea looming over a graffiti riddled fence...
I love the red and green color contrast in this image....
A rebellious slice of nature trying to escape one yard through the fence, hehe.... Quite charming, no?
...and here is a fuchsia Bougainvillea doing the same...
This stunning yellow looker is an Allamanda flower, commonly known as Yellow Bell, Golden Trumpet, and Buttercup Flower...
Oooooh, the almighty Platycerium, commonly known as the Staghorn Fern or Elkhorn Fern! Isn't this one huge? My mother, grandmother, and uncle love these and have quite a few enormous ones! In fact, years ago someone stole my uncle's giant Staghorn right off the hook in his patio when he lived down in Key Largo! That's why I was surprised to see this big guy hanging from the tree in someone's front yard....
More ground orchids, except these are planted in (several) baskets and hanging from a tree! You can't see that well from these photos, but it was pretty cool, plus there were pink flowers, not just orange!
My mother told me the name of this tree with the red flowers but I forgot, anyone know? Mom, if you're reading this text me the name so I can update the post, thanks! Update: She doesn't remember, hahahahaha... so if any of my readers know please share! :)
Another Poinciana tree, except this one is full of ferns growing and hanging along its branches - which makes for a great view from the bottom looking up through the leaves...
Guess what? More Hibiscus flowers!...
They are everywhere....
The beautifully textured branches of an enormous Pine Tree...
At the end of our walk, we came across this great concrete art of the Om symbol, and what appears to be a meditating figure, probably Buddha. I just LOVE how that random vine creeping out onto the sidewalk from the grass, don't you? It's art! Next to it was this inscription:
Haile Selassie is the Ethiopian Emperor that most adherents of the Rastafari movement worship, hmmm...
And just to commemorate our walk, I took a photo of my pasty white calves and feet in my brand new (birthday gift) Nike walking sneakers. They're really awesome (apart from the turquoise sole and laces of course) because they have Nike+, which links up to an application that you can download on your iPhone or iPod for $1.99 and it tracks the miles walked/run, time spent, and calories burned during your workout. It tracks you via GPS, so that means you can start your run/walk session on the application and even leave your phone at home if you wanted to! Also, another thing I like is that the application still works when you close it, it tracks your distance until you pause or end the session. Now, let's just hope I keep using these babies until they fall apart, like my last pair of Nikes, and that they actually help me lose a few pounds by cheering me on with that sexy turquoise glow.... ;)
And finally, I saved these for last because they are my favorite photos from the entire walk, my very last photos... A dwarf Royal Poinciana tree!!! I didn't know they existed until I showed my mother this photo and she gasped and asked where I saw them... When I told her they are growing on the swail in front of the house across the street from my boyfriend's house, she promptly asked me to grab her some of the seed pods hanging from it, which I did! You better believe that I happily grabbed handfuls of those pods after that! I have wanted my mother to plant a Poinciana tree forever, but she always says no because it gets really big and she doesn't have the yard space for it (too many other trees, hehe). Anyway, now that I know there is a DWARF Poinciana tree I am super excited... Gotta get those seed pods to my mother and grandmother and let them do their magic... ;)
(All images in this post were taken by me and are my personal photographs, please do not use them without my permission. Write to me at InspireBohemia(at)gmail.com if interested, thank you!)