Trees in Florida

Pines and Cypresses are native to Florida. These can be found everywhere, old or young, tall, by the sea shore, in swamp areas, on sandy hills and in the endless forests. There are as well Oaks, Magnolias, Hickory trees, Mangroves and Palms! Hundreds of species of Palms...

Old towns, estates and plantations present oak and palm trees two and even three hundred years old, amazingly huge, tall and impressive.

About Cypress trees. The species here are different from the one we are familiar with from the Mediterranean area. They grow to an unbelievable height over 100 ft. Here you find it in dry and wet lands and even near salty water. In those cases, the tree grows a whole system of air roots that seems like sculptures, sometimes in a very large circle around the trunk, sometimes popping out of the water near the tree.







When a tree dies in the forest, a whole new circle of life begins. Insects, worms and other creatures start consuming it. Animals dig holes and find shelter in it while feeding on the worms and insects. The dieing tree creates space for new younger and strong trees.

In the state parks we learned that the park rangers use fire to maintain the health of the forests. They light prescribed fires to get rid of the lower vegetation on the floor of the forest, this promote renewable and healthy forest and replace the natural fires that once shaped the landscape of Florida's forests.

Wood industry: Driving along the roads of Florida makes you wonder about the thousands of acres of Pine trees growing everywhere, vertically and parallel to each other. This is the Cellulose fiber industry. You will see Pine trees from young Pine plants, to very tall ones growing up to about 100 ft and more. Then you might see caravans of trucks carrying cut trees. Cellulose fiber is one of the most important industries of Florida.

One Ficus tree forest ... located at the Adison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers.
Adison was interested in Botany and brought plants from all over the aorld to grow on his land in Florida.

I'm not a botanist so I'll not pretend I know a lot about trees, BUT, I found new things about trees here in Florida...

For example, there is a strangling fig tree! It grows from the top of a tree down to earth. It spins around the trunk of a tree, growing and fastening its hold, sucking the vitality of the tree until it dies!

Strangling Fig on a Cypress tree

There are many kinds of epiphytes that live on the trees. These are not parasites! They both live in peace with each other.

West Florida

Dear friends,
Florida is amazing!!!

It's the land of beautiful beaches, endless forests, deep blue springs, lots of hotels, motels and RV parks, thousands of bridges, lot of lighthouses, swamps, marshes and hundreds of villages for 55 and more retirees...

Nature is exciting! Birds of all kinds are all over the place, reptiles lie in the sun to warm up, squirrels are everywhere. They say that there are still black bears and panthers... but we didn't see those.

We found some charming towns and neighborhoods: St Augustin, Old Naples, Tarpon Springs, Cedar Key. If you visit Florida add these to your must list.

Next I'll tell you about trees in Florida.

Back to Florida

About a month passed since we paused our trip for a visit back home to Israel.
Meeting our family and friends was fabulous! Passover was as good as possible... One of the best!
It's spring time in Israel, the weather was perfect, the Galilee and Golan Heights are covered with grass, it's green wherever you look. The best time to visit the country.

Now we're back to business... We spent the weekend with our friends Batia and Claudia in Oakland Park near Fort Lauderdale.

Batia and me

Batia is my highschool frind, this month we had a great reunion after more than 45 years! Well, we did meet a year and a half ago in Israel... but this stay with Batia was the real reunion.

With Claudia and Batia on the beach

Marty 

It was wonderful to meet again with Marty and Kooshi... what a welcome party!

Now we're ready to move on! Today we're starting the second part of our trip. We're going west, to Collier Seminole State Park, on the edge of the Everglades.

More adventures to come.