Greetings from Ponte Vedra Beach

antique Jacksonville postcard

Actually, we’re home again. The laundry is done. The lawn is mowed. And the rescued tulips are still in flower. (Pix and post coming soon.)

On to Florida landscaping …

What is this green shit you call grass? I recall now the admonition from my grandmother the first time I visited Florida as a teenager: “This is no place to go barefoot.” It’s green. You mow it. But it’s really not very inviting.

Haven’t I been reading about Agapanthus as a hot new plant the past couple of years? Judging by the landscaping around the condos, it’s a freakin’ groundcover on the order of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ here in the Northeast. Doesn’t mean it’s not a great plant. But I could have plucked a dozen plants and no one would have been any the wiser.

sawgrassI love palms. I don’t care that they’re everywhere in the landscape and stacked on flatbeds headed for the next new development. If I could grow palms here, I’d do it. Growing Amaryllis outside is pretty cool, too.

The PGA tournament at Sawgrass (spitting distance from Nate and Trista’s place)  gave the whole trip an even more festive atmosphere. Even I knew about the incredible 17th hole with the island green in pond and I don’t follow golf at all.

Update: Pix from the trip are at Elly’s picassa gallery.

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2 thoughts on “Greetings from Ponte Vedra Beach”

  1. Ellis: Welcome home! I know what you mean about that thick, cushiony stuff they call grass. My Mom and my Aunt are down in Fl for the winter months and if I could, I would rip out all their grass and plant something more appropriate. I cannot figure out why all the new housing is without solar panels…it is the Sunshine State after all! They do have great grapefruit and oranges growing right in the backyard so there is a plus! Isn’t spring great!

  2. I agree on the grass, when I similarly visited my grandmother as a teenager (well, child more), I was admonished to never set foot off paved surfaces for fear I would be devoured by fire ants.
    Never stayed long enough to ascertain how true that was, but the grass looked like what my northern mind would consider a weed – crabgrass. It was not inviting in the least.
    -C

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