Portavant Indian Mound 2

Joining National Parks Week

I sat down for a rest after a long walk and realized the sun was painting the deck and leaves. The deck covers a large portion of the mound to protect it. Climbing on the mound is not allowed.



all points of the compass from the top of the mound are moss hung oaks over 100 years old

We saw hundreds or oranges, growing in among the oaks and palms, un-reachable now that the mound is protected.

Per the sign below, in 1869 the Griffith's built there house on top of the mound and planted 200 orange and lemon trees, and 400 banana plants. the grand children of those plants still live here.

Portavant Indian Mound 1

This week is National Parks Week...Click HERE  to find the park closest toyou... get out and enjoy a park week.. If you have park photos, this week is the week to share them...

The walk up on top of the Portavant Temple Mound is steep, I could not get the whole view in one shot.
The mound is SW Florida's largest native American Temple Mound...the mound is 1200 years old.
Click Here    for the Trail of Florida's Indian Heritage and more info on this mound.

Below I combined two first photos to show the scope of the mound. click on photo to enlarge.

Emerson Point is a state owned park and is a protected State Archaeological Site and NOTHING can be removed, that includes shells, rocks, moss etc...

Up on the deck above and looking up from the deck below...

Spanish Moss in all the trees

Down the other side, the same but different .........to be continued

Emerson Point Water and a Critter

Emerson Point has cove beaches, river and bay water views, boats and docks......

and even a critter here and there, can you find him?

Emerson Point Welcome Center

Above is the Welcome Center, not always open because it is only open when volunteers can be there. A ranger lives in a home behind it but is to busy to run the center. My question is Why did they put the bathrooms UP all those stairs? and when I got there, it had Handicap on the door. so how does a Handicap get up there?   Dear State Park builders using our money... what were you thinking?

the butterfly garden had a dozen rocks painted like Lady Bugs, about the size of my fist. I am wondering why? decorative? and of course Dear Hubby Bob was standing under the Osprey nest and I was taking a shot of him and totally Missed The Osprey as it flew up out of the nest..  I did get a shot of the nest.

Amazing Trees out there (strangler figs and banyans)

yesterday's post of the fig tree sparked many comments about a fig tree being that big and eating figs in the Bible. This is NOT the fig tree that was in the Bible and not your ordinary fig tree that some people love the fruit of.

Amazing figs of the tropical rain forest

All info taken from Stranglers and Banyans, in

Waynes World

Of all the trees on earth, the figs (Ficus) certainly have the most bizarre growth forms and the most ingenious method of pollination. Imagine a tree with numerous snakelike, aerial roots growing downward from the limbs, a massive, buttressed trunk with huge surface roots spreading in all directions, and a peculiar aggressive growth habit that literally strangles other trees.

 Although most people are familiar with the Old World edible fig ,the vast majority of fig species grow wild in exotic tropical regions of the world.

Their unmistakable growth form resembles the background scenery from a "Tarzan" or "Rambo" movie.

 

Several unusual species were planted in Florida and southern California near the turn of the century, and include some of the most spectacular trees in parks and botanical gardens. 

Above is a wild air plant that just appeared in the arms of the fig tree

Check out how Tall the root is, about 20 inches

I took this photo at Emerson Point Preserve, Like a giant botanical boa constrictor, this strangler fig  is wrapped around the trunk of a palm, there are many of these on all the trails

The above type is called Banyan and are in the same family

In their native tropical habitats, many figs are called "stranglers." Seeds germinate high on the moist branches of rain forest trees, sending numerous aerial roots to the ground. The sticky seeds are dispersed by a variety of fruit-eating birds and bats

Close up of the bark

If you have time and are interested in these trees there is so much information on them that i did not know
and can not post at Waynes World

Trees CAN Cross Their KNEES!

Hi, my name is Terry Tree. I live in the woods just outside this Welcome Center in Emerson Point Preserve.

I am sure you did not know trees can cross their knees, but here is Proof Postive. Why don't all you humans take my example to heart and kick back and cross your knees and enjoy God's Creation.

I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far! ~John Muir

Emerson Point Preserve

UP the boardwalk we went,

My friend Judy and I, up, up and away......to total peace and quiet, not a sound but a woodpecker knocking way off in the distance. we stood under a canopy of trees that are over 100 years old. NOTE: our hair matches the spanish moss (Judy pointed this out to me) not bad for a timer set photo. I sat the camera on the thin railing and did not think about it until I got home, if it had fallen off, it would have disapearred forever.

to see the full beauty and detail of the trees, click on photo

Then we CAREFULLY trudged down the other side of the mound and off to hike the trails

The most amazing thing happened, the sound of the woodpecker got louder and louder and There He Was!

And the most amazing thing was and I have never seen this before, not ONE but FOUR of them

Did you know they cry like a baby? If i had not seen and heard it I would not believe it. Judy is my witness.

Peace, Quiet and Woodpeckers....... to be continued in the next few post. Yes, the header was taken in the preserve.

Emerson Point Wildflowers

Snugged in small tight places I found this little yellow flower, no bigger than a dime. Emerson Preserve is home to many wild flowers.
Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into. ~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity. ~John Ruskin

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Audra Foveo

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. ~Walt Whitman

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair... ~Susan Polis Shutz

Discovering this idyllic place, we find ourselves filled with a yearning to linger here, where time stands still and beauty overwhelms.

I close with these seed pods, I picked them off a bush, I have no idea what it was, but the color of the pods caught my eyes and they now reside in a dish on my shelf.

I hope you did not miss the details on these, remember to click on the photo to really SEE what is there. Click back to go back to the blog.