Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Oh those sea grapes!

For a non-Floridian, I have become awfully fond of the sea grape. In various places around the state, I collected sea grape leaves again this year. Actually, I have never seen the sea grapes, only the leaves—but I sure like those! The grapes form in the autumn and the birds eat them, and the leaves fall off whenever. There are always new ones forming. I look forward to putting my new collection of scavenged leaves to work on my clay when we get back to the hills of West Virginia later this week. 

I met sea grape bushes a year ago, and they hold all the same charms for me now. I love their colors, shape, simplicity, sturdiness, and sheer abundance. Rare is the Florida garden that includes them, although they are sometimes planted as hedges. The Botanical Gardens in Naples are a lovely exception to the apparent horticultural “no wild sea grapes” bias. Those are not only exquisite gardens (perhaps my all-time favorite, which is saying a lot), but they include a natural area of beach-dwelling plants. That exhibit beautifully embraces the lowly sea grape in both shrub and tree sizes-- my kind of place! I will keep this short and say it with pictures.

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