Fern Forest Nature Center

Our winter has been so mild this year (70's/60's at night to 70's/80's during the day) that Joe & I were able to enjoy a trip to a local county park called Fern Forest located in Coconut Creek.  It is a little gem of indigenous Florida flora & fauna surrounded by concrete jungle, lol.  But seriously it is one of just a handful of natural slough's still left in Florida which are vital to the Everglades ecosystem.  The 247 acre park is home to more than 30 species of ferns, hundreds of species of plants and a vast array of animals.  This park is so complex that it has over 10 different habitats: some of the ecosystems we saw were the dry prairie, pine flatwoods, tropical hardwood hammock, cypress & maple tree swamp, wet prairie, hardwood swamps, oak-pine-palm hammock, fresh water marsh, cypress creeks and rockland hammock.  We went on an overcast cool Saturday afternoon.  I thought there may be so many people there we wouldn't really see much wildlife but at least we would enjoy our afternoon outdoors.  Boy was I wrong...I guess everyone was sleeping in because we were only one of a few people out on the trails and saw so many animals!  So without further adieu...here is a photo montage of our Fern Forest adventure!

Part of the fresh water marsh which is also part of
natural slough which moves water from the
Everglades through Coral Spring, Coconut Creek
& Pompano Beach to the intracoastal waterway then
out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Native wild lime to the left, an old cypress snag in  the middle that looks like it has fed quite
a few woodpeckers, cinnecord sapling to the
right and a native Caribbean wild coffee in the front right.

This is the base of what was a very old & very large
cypress tree.  Even dead trees provide
habitats for lots of different plant species
like ferns, epiphytes & mosses.

Banyan tree's have such an amazing sculptural
form to them but are super invasive here in Florida.  They are from India & can grow hundreds of feet high and wide.

Here in the swamp you can see sabal palms, leather ferns, alligator flag,
cypress tree's and their knee's (the nubs that rise up from the ground).

I just got "Shhhhhh'd", I was like "what?!?" LOL 

This is what I got "shhhh'd" for...a huge
pileated woodpecker! My first ever, so cool!

Lots of layers of Florida native plants in their natural setting.
Sabal palms, oak trees, wild coffee & beautyberry to name a few.

A big gopher tortoise walking in the dry prairie area.

As we got closer, we find out that it was
just finishing up a "personal moment" lol

Rouge Plant, rivina humilis, is a relative of the pokeweed.

Swamp ferns across the hammock floor

Hmmm can you tell me which one doesn't belong...

X marks the spot,a blurry image yes, but proof we saw a 
great horned owl...in the daylight none the less!

This airplant or epiphyte is almost 3ft wide & fell from the pine tree.

Strap fern ( campyloneurm phyllitidis)

Bracken fern ( pteridium aquilinum )

Swamp fern ( blechnum serrulatum )

Swamp fern ( blechnum serrulatum )

Halberd fern ( tectaria heracleifolia )

Maiden fern ( thelypteris kunthii )

Giant leather fern ( acrostichum danaeifolium )

Tuber sword fern ( nephrolepis cordifolia )

Forest floor full of ferns

Fallen cypress tree in the Cypress-Maple Swamp

Leather ferns and swamp lilies

Bright green moss on swamp maple tree

Lichen and moss on cypress tree

A view of the Cypress-Maple swamp

Lots of lichen lol

Can you tell I am fascinated by epiphytes? ;)

Resurrection ferns ( pleopeltis polypodioides ) on this fallen tree.

The infamous 9-banded armadillo.
They were foraging for food and super cute!

There were two of them & surprisingly they
were not shy but boy were they quick.

The nubby moss covered spikes coming up from the swamp
floor are the cypress tree's "knees".  They are part of the tree's root
system thought to help bring oxygen to the tree but it's not really know
the exact role they play.

Giant brake fern ( pteris triportita)

Whew, yes the slide show is over although these handful of pictures are just a small fraction of all the flora and fauna this little part of the world has to show you.  So take a few hours out of your crazy day and get yourself to one of your local parks to enjoy what it has offer.  After all that's what they are there for!

Wishing you all a most wonderful weekend and I am outta here to go enjoy my birthday weekend!

Happy Gardening and Best Wishes,

Sheri

xoxo

Window Sill Gardening

Here in South Florida we are very fortunate to have moderate winter's.  Though most of the country is experiencing severe weather around this time of year.  Here we can leave our plants outside and in the ground all year round.  Though most of the country has to bring cold sensitive plants inside and/or greenhouse them.  There used to be a time when we had frost warnings but now we call ourselves lucky if we can stay below 70 degree F weather for a couple of days.  With your freezing winter weather and our brutally hot summer weather there are some plants that just do better inside.  If you haven't already, why not try a window sill garden?  Window sill gardens are wonderfully practical as well as beautiful.

First you should ask yourself, what type of plants do I want to grow and what light & water requirements do they need?  Based on the answers, you can choose which of your window sills suits their environment.  For example, one of the ladies in our orchid society lives in a condo but loves orchids.  So she has them in her bathroom windows where they can absorb the shower heat and humidity as well as her kitchen window sill.

Second ask yourself, how can I personalize this space?  You can add small objects of whimsy, picture frames, heirloom pieces, colored glass, collectables, etc.  For example, right now in my kitchen window I have a few small pieces of colored glass vases, a few seashells and my last surviving mini violet.  The whole window sill was full of mini violets since that was the only place I could actually grow them.  For me, I like to rotate new things in my window sills that way I never get bored with it.

Currently what my kitchen window sill looks like with the
exception that the orchid is now back outside.

We have a tiny old school galley style kitchen.
Boy how I wish I had an extra 10k to remodel lol.

Here are some more ideas for window sill gardens...

I had an extra compote dish I wasn't using so
I thought it would work better for me as a herb planter, lol.
It was so easy & looks so pretty that I'm going to use a
few more pieces of unique yet unused glassware of mine.

Here is what it looks like finished. 

I just love how this person recycled baby food jars to
use them as forcing vases for narcissus bulbs, so cool!

Carnivorous plants in this sill.

Green chrysanthemum's

Love this cozy corner!

A very elegant country style kitchen window sill.

An easy way to add fresh herbs to your food by having a
few of your favorites handy.

So fun, festive & colorful with fresh cut flowers.

A contemporary style window sill with flowers & herb topiaries, too cute!

This is a fellow blogger's window sill which I thought was so pretty & unique.
Her sill gave me the inspiration for this window sill post.  Thank you Lorraine!

I really like this unique collection of objects on this window sill.

This is a nice grouping of orchids & various house plants,
something like my Mom had in our window growing up.

A very simple but stately window sill

I just adore this creative & unique window sill.

Whether your window sills are filled to the brim or bare as a bone, hopefully you

saw something to spark your creative juices flowing.

Happy Gardening and best wishes,

Sheri

xoxo