Category Archives: Treasure Coast Living

Weirdness Wednesday – Agave americana flowers

More Tropic Florida weirdness. This looks like something from the Far Side cartoons to me. I posted a photo of the bud in mid August when this Agave americana started sending up a flower stalk:

American Agave bud

American Agave bud

Two and one half months later – the flower stalk is over seven feet tall and has these wonderful chartreuse flowers.

The Stalk

The Stalk

I am guessing these are florets? The flowers start out looking like rectangular budded broccoli and then bloom.

Agave Florets

Agave Florets

I am waiting to see what this plant might do next.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin with Ears

Jack O Lantern

Here is my Jack O Lantern. I carve one every Halloween in honor of my father, a devoted pumpkin artist, who has been gone for thirteen years.

One of my favorite childhood memories is going with my father to pick the Halloween Pumpkin . I would rush home after school and wait for him to get home from work, then we would go to Matthews Market and pick the biggest one we could find. One year our pumpkin weighed 40 pounds. We would scoop out the insides, my mother would roast the seeds in butter and salt and he would carve the face on the Jack O Lantern with my input. My father had a bit of a peculiar sense of humor and always insisted on frowning pumpkins with ears that stuck out. He continued to carve pumpkins every Halloween until I was past forty years old.

I have kept up the tradition, but my pumpkins usually turn out looking sort like a demented Polynesian version The one this year is happy because he is in Florida for the winter – but he still has some ears that stick out.

Demented Polynesian Pumpkin

Demented Polynesian Pumpkin

Tortoise Thursday

Gopher Tortoise

Gopher Tortoise

Thursday is my day for reptile sightings. I was in my garage this afternoon and heard a strange scrabbling noise. I looked down to spy a Florida Gopher Tortoise trucking down my driveway, heading into my garage. I quickly closed the garage door, which makes a racket, the tortoise just watched it come down and kept going.

These are burrowing tortoises and share their burrows with more than 300 other species, including rattlesnakes. They are a protected species in Florida and permits must be procured to develop a site where there are Gopher Tortoises. There are some empty lots nearby and I am guessing that is home for this one.

I finally got him or her pointed in the right direction and he headed for home, I hope.

Middle Age Baking – The Saga of the Guinness Cake

The Guinness Cake

The Guinness Cake

An old friend recently posted a picture on Facebook of a Chocolate Cake made with Guinness Stout (topped with Cream Cheese Frosting)

Being an affirmed chocolate lover, the pictures and the recipe sounded great; so I decided to try the cake.

Not being a Stout drinker, I needed a single beer. Well, Jensen Beach, Florida, to a certain extent, is the end of the earth, so finding a single Guinness Stout was a bit of a challenge, but I did it. Then realized I had no cocoa powder, sour cream or cream cheese.

Having collected the ingredients I set out to the library – the reason, a nearly overdue book. The second thoughts kicked in, does my refrigerator contain 10 tablespoons of butter? Better stop and get some extra. After a trip to Winn Dixie, the butter dilemma was solved. I started baking.

The first thing needed, a nine inch springform pan. I decided to measure mine, 10 inches and clearly something bad had happened to it during our move to Florida. Am I the only person in the world who uses an Engineers scale to cook? (type of ruler used by civil engineers) Put it in the sink to soak for a minute-nothing happened cementitous crud so stuck I need to get a new springform pan. Time to get out the two nine inch cake pans. I used my trusty Engineers scale to verify.

Having significantly misplaced my reading glasses – I read the ingredients and not the directions for the cake. Decided to heat the butter and cream it with the sugar, which I did. Then found the glasses and read I should melt the butter and add the Guinness – too late. I added the Guinness to the butter sugar mixture and chunks of Guinness foam sugary butter immediately floated to the top in the oddest baking misadventure I  have had to date. Imagine, Guinness stout as gigantic cottage cheese curds.

At this moment, I had a “what the hell” thought, added the dry ingredients, turned the mixer on and proceeded to not follow any directions and put the actually lovely batter into two (gasp) cake pans. Winged the cooking times and ended up with a two layer cake. Divided the frosting and finished the cake.

It was divine. I think it needs a layer of strawberry jam in the middle. Nigella describes the cake as not tasting like the stout, but having a ferrous tang. I am still contemplating that.

It is a really good cake. Here is a link to the recipe. http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1875-chocolate-guinness-cake

Turtle Thursday

Florida Box Turtle

Florida Box Turtle

My greyhounds have been sniffing around a corner of the back yard for the past couple of days, I didn’t think too much about this as, well, they are dogs. This afternoon, my younger and most curious dog, Fuzzy’s Alan Alda (no idea why, this is his racing name – we call him Alan) came upon this turtle cruising back to his corner of the yard and felt compelled to observe from a safe distance the moving decorated rock.

The turtle was not too fascinated with Alan and proceeded to try and climb the BBQ grill cover. I thought ‘Wow, I did not know turtles could climb’

20151015_141926-1

The climbing wasn’t going very well so I put the turtle back where he came from – outside the fence away from Alan, who was and is still fascinated – about this time my other dog came out to assist with the investigation.

I brought the dogs back in the house and continued the investigation (they went to sleep). Based on the markings, I thought this was a painted turtle which is fairly common further north. Upon closer examination I realized it wasn’t and looked it up.

This is a Florida Box Turtle endemic to Florida and an endangered species (overdevelopment of habitat?) Hopefully, he or she is tucked safely away in their corner and eating mosquitoes.

A Soap Opera

Soap Aloe

Soap Aloe

This is the flower of a Soap Aloe, Aloe saponaria, for you botanical name fans. Only Mother Nature could make grey, orange and green look so good together.

This plant hails from South Africa and thrives here in South Florida to the point offshoots have to be composted or the garden is overtaken by Aloe. Besides, it is a bit sharp for a groundcover.

The reason for the name is the natives in South Africa used the juice for shampoo and soap. If a leaf is snapped off, a bubbly juice flows out of the plant. I thought about trying it, but after reading up on this Aloe it seems 50% of people are allergic to it. Given my track record with plant encounters, more than likely I fall into that category.

Store-bought Soap for me and the Symphony in greys and orange stay outside.

Autumnal Thoughts – Flights of Forest Fancy

Seasons can be difficult to recognize in South Florida. You have to look hard to find fall color, last year I found some Red Maples with red foliage in the nearby swamp – long about December. I have learned to look to the Indian River for signs of fall, there is always a mullet run when the seasons turn and I am just starting to see the little fish jumping out of the water, I enjoy the mullet run – it is a sign that relief from the oppressive heat is close at hand.

Royal Ponciana Delonix regia

Royal Ponciana
Delonix regia

Another sign of fall is the Poncianas are slowing down on the flowering and producing gigantic green pods. The ferny foliage is still shimmery green, but the pods foretell a soon to be naked tree. Getting in touch with my inner plant nerd (not difficult) I did some research on the Ponciana and found it is native to Madagascar and rarely seen there anymore. Another Madagascar native that is popular in landscaping here is the Bismarck Palm. This one is planted unfortunately near a power pole – that is not fruit. This Palm has huge silvery fronds, costapalmate! and literally 4 feet wide. The fronds sound like big pieces of cardboard rubbing together. Fruit is borne in grape like clusters of 2 inch wide shiny mahogany colored nuts. I planted one a month or so ago and it is supposed to take more than 2 months for the seed to germinate and 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the required temperature. So far nothing on that front.

Bismarck Palm Bismarckia nobilis

Bismarck Palm
Bismarckia nobilis

Here is my Flight of Forest Fancy, both these trees supposedly occurred in Forests.

Just imagine these forests – the Palm and the Ponciana can get to be 60 feet tall.

The Remains of the Day

I am thinking that the above was a movie title. Seems I didn’t care for it. So, we are currently experiencing the remains of what was once Hurricane Erika. The Hurricane from last week, Danny fizzled out, Erika was a Hurricane for a short period of time; forecast to hit the East coast of Florida (me) two days later it was going to hit the West coast of Florida (not me) then the entire state was going to be hit by a tropical storm and then Erika graciously dissapated and sent the mess north. As the farmers from Texas would say ‘it’s raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock’

Adding to the sayings (cliches) when I first looked outside this morning, the sky was red – as in Red Sky in Morning Sailor’s Take Warning. My actually green Cabbage Palm looked red..reflection from the sky.

Apocalyptic Palm Tree

Apocalyptic Palm Tree

No gardening for me this Sunday, so I decided to bake Cocktail Nibbles, as it was too early for cocktails.

Cheese Puffs under Construction

Cheese Puffs under Construction

These nibbles are a great old Southern recipe I got from an former client’s grandmother who was 104 at the time. She claimed she had lived so long because she never watched the news. If she ate these all day long there must be something to that claim! Simple, but divine.

Cheese Puffs:

1 stick room temperature unsalted butter

8 0z. Shredded Sharp Cheddar (Shred it yourself!)

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt

Pecan Halves

Mix ingredients at Room temperature until a dough is formed. Roll into 1″ balls and flatten, top with a Pecan half. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for about 15 minutes until brown around the edges. Cool and store in an airtight container. Get a glass of wine.

Cocktail Nibbles

Cocktail Nibbles

Have a glass of wine and think about how the aquifer is being recharged by the 3 inches of rain that is falling this hour, or maybe the nutgrass you should pull out of the front bed.

Perhaps I should mention the Atlantic Hurricane season peaks on September 10th. I am somewhat fascinated by the coastal weather and keep an eye on it. I’ll check. Oh, good, Hurricane Fred has formed in the Cape Verde Islands. Supposedly going out to sea. Maybe I need another glass of wine.

Hurricanes and Tequila

It just dawned on me that Hurricanes are a cocktail, but they don’t contain Tequila. The Hurricane cocktail contains enough rum that if you drink one you won’t care about the Hurricane and the next morning you will feel like you were hit by one.

The first Atlantic Hurricane of the season may or may not be forming in the Tropical Atlantic. There must be a special language school for the weather forecasters that work on these storms. It’s making statements without really stating any facts. Danny is the name of the storm brewing – he has already been designated a Tropical Storm and might possibly turn into a Hurricane. However, the key however is there is a lot of dry Saharan sand and air floating around out there and we are in an El Nino weather pattern. I could ask my Greyhounds for their storm predictions, but they are clearly too busy. So, we wait. To spare myself drama, I only read the Weather Underground.

Canines occupied

Canines occupied, they’ve put their car magazines on the Ottoman so they can nap

Agave americana

Agave americana

On to the tequila, I have discovered I have an Agave americana shooting up a bloom spike. I thought this was interesting as some of these are called Century Plants because they bloom every hundred years and this one has been around my garden for three years or so. Research has informed me that the bloom spike could be 15 feet tall (!) and indeed tequila is made from this plant. I love the color and texture of the Agave, a glaucous blue green with chocolate brown spines. A friend of mine grew this Agave and gave it to me with a warning ‘some people are allergic to the spines so be sure and cut them off the tips of the leaves’. Well, I decided to move the thing having put it in the wrong place and thought I had cut off all the spines. Later I found myself in the doctor’s office drawing a picture of the plant for her (she couldn’t figure out what could cause such a horrible bruise and reaction) and getting a prescription for Steroids. Yes, I am one of the allergic.

Given my lack of fondness for steroids and the fact that after the Agave americana flowers it dies – I believe it will be asked to leave the garden and I will replace it with a similar sized Bromeliad or Crinum or something lacking chocolate brown spines.

Interesting native plants currently doing their thing in my garden:

Sea Grapes - Coccoloba uvifera

Sea Grapes – Coccoloba uvifera

These are Sea Grapes, native to the beach and a bit beyond. The natives like to eat them, the bottom two are nearly ripe but, I haven’t really developed a taste for them and the seed is big. Mine go to the raccoons and birds.

Hymenocallis latifolia

Hymenocallis latifolia

Natives of Florida call these Spider Lilies, I have seen other Hymenocallis called Peruvian Daffodils, clearly I am not in Peru. This is another Florida beachside native- these are easy to grow, but difficult to photograph. The anthers are very like Oriental Lilies, but hard to see. White flowers bloom in clusters, timing is staggered. These are interesting flowers and nearly indestructible.

My plan is to relax with the Greyhounds and await storm news, not eat any Sea Grapes or get stabbed by an Agave. A glass of Chardonnay, no Hurricanes or Tequila in my future, hopefully.

Bark for Bark’s Sake – Boots and Strangler Figs

I was looking at trees (perhaps an unfortunate habit) this morning as I walked my dogs and it occurred to me the bark on some of these tropical trees I pass everyday is different from bark in northern climes. Especially Palm Trees, palms do some funky things.

Cabbage Palm with Boots Palmetto sabal

Cabbage Palm with Boots
Palmetto sabal

Palm trees are available in some varieties booted, which means the bases of the old leaves have been left on purpose. While it is graphically interesting, I think this looks kind of messy and a lot of weird plant and animal life tends to go into the boots and proliferate – I had my Cabbage Palm’s trunk cleared off and there was a 6 foot snake living in the trunk. Another peculiarity growing in the boots is the Strangler Fig.

Strangler Fig

Strangler Fig trunk

There is a big Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea) beside my house between me and my neighbor. It looks a bit like something that would be growing at Hogwarts, where Harry Potter went to school.

Ficus aurea Strangler Fig

Ficus aurea
Strangler Fig

The trunk is probably 10 or 15 feet wide, including its aerial rooted trunks, at least 50 feet wide and probably a bit less on the height. I would love to know how old it is.

These trees are native to South Florida on both coasts and common in several habitats but not in the trade. They start life in the boots of palms or in cups of Bromeliads growing on the ground. The fruit is produced copiously and is the size of blueberries, as with many tropical fruits, not particularly good to eat, but the birds enjoy it and transport it around to grow new Strangler Figs. The reason these are called Strangler Figs is they can literally strangle the palm as they grow down the trunk hit the ground and put roots down, then overwhelm the tree and grow over and around it eventually strangling it.

This is a photo of a Strangler Fig reaching down from the Cabbage Palm:

Fig coming down

Fig coming down

Sleeping under the shade of a palm doesn’t seem like such a good idea now…