Birds | Botanical Visions Landscape Architecture | South Florida Landscape Design

Get Schooled on Native Plants for FREE!

October 2, 2012 By Jennifer Mennuti Leave a Comment

Bill Reeve, President and owner of Botanical Visions, will be giving a presentation on using Florida native plants on Wednesday, October 10 at 7:00pm at the Broward Chapter meeting of the Florida Native Plant Society. The meeting will be held at Secret Woods Nature Center on State Road 84 in Ft. Lauderdale. These meetings are held monthly and are a great place to meet fellow gardeners who are experts in Florida native plants as well as people who are new to using natives and are looking to learn more. They have a free give away table and a raffle as well as light refreshments. The plant auction held at the end of the meeting is a great opportunity to bring home a new plant for very little money.

The group will meet again on Saturday, October 20 for a field trip at Sandy Ridge Sanctuary in Coral Springs. There will be a two hour guided tour through the 38 acre nature preserve to look for wildlife and native plants. Some of the wildlife spotted in this ecosystem include foxes, gopher tortoises, ducks, osprey, and many other birds.

My favorite benefit of incorporating Florida native plants in a landscape is the increased wildlife that happens almost immediately. Butterflies, birds and many fascinating pollinators find their way to the flowers and add a whole new dimension of interest and activity to the garden. You will also notice a reduced need for water and pesticides. Lower maintenance means a healthier planet and more time to relax and enjoy life.

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Filed Under: 1, Featured, South Florida Events Tagged With: Acre Nature, Bill Reeve, Birds, Botanical Visions, Butterflies, Coral Springs, Earth, Fellow Gardeners, Field Trip, Florida Landscape, Florida Native Plant, Florida Native Plant Society, Florida Native Plants, Florida Plants, Flowers, Foxes, Ft Lauderdale, Giving A Presentation, Gopher Tortoises, Light Refreshments, Native Plants, Natives, New Dimension, Osprey, Pesticides, Plant Auction, Raffle, Reeve, Sandy Ridge, Secret Woods Nature Center, Tortoises, Visions, William Reeve

Sunflower: Happiness on a Stick

June 14, 2012 By Jennifer Mennuti Leave a Comment

Every summer as a child, I greatly anticipated the day when my family would plant a few giant sunflowers in the vegetable garden. We carefully placed the small black and white striped seeds in a small trough and watered them daily as we waited for the moment when the first leaf appeared. One of my favorite events was the day when the plants grew taller than me. I watched the flower buds form and pondered how much taller the plants could actually get and wondered if they would be able to stand on their own or if we would have to stake them. After the flower petals faded and the seeds were ready for harvesting, we would cut the heads off and pick out the seeds. That task was a very zen-like experience where I could just zone out and enjoy being outside. Shucking corn, removing peas from their pods, and topping and tailing green beans were also fun activities that became like a meditation. As we snacked on the raw seeds, we also saved some for the birds and for planting the following year.

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Filed Under: 1, Daily Inspirations, Featured Tagged With: Birds, Black And White, Black Seed, Black White, Botanical Visions, Complexity, Corn, First Leaf, Flower Buds, Flower Petals, Flower Seeds, Fun Activities, Giant Sunflowers, Green Beans, Happiness, Jennifer Mennuti, Meditation, Plants, Pods, Raw Seeds, Seeds, Simplicity, Stake, Summertime, Sunflower, Trough, Troughs, Vegetable Garden, Zen

Oh really?! A Lily?!

May 10, 2012 By Jennifer Mennuti Leave a Comment

Years ago, I rented a house in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and dabbled with a garden even though the sprinkler system was extremely unreliable and the yard was pure sand. I lived there for a few years and then one day I noticed a new plant coming up out of an abandoned planter box and the “weed” was interesting enough for me to decide to see what it would become. As the plant grew taller, I noticed that it was forming tendrils at the tips of the leaves and using them to grasp onto anything within reach in order to support itself. Eventually, I discovered flower buds and then spectacular red and yellow flowers began making appearances! I went through some plant books and identified the plant as Gloriosa superba ‘Rothschildiana.’ Apparently, their bulbs were dormant for several years but I was ecstatic that they came to life. The next few years, they went dormant from time to time but reliably came back after resting for six to eight weeks. The Gloriosas wrapped their tendrils around my heart as well so I found more varieties from Brent & Becky’s Bulbs and planted all of them. The yellow and orange varieties were interesting and amusing as a novelty but I found the most common “Rothschildiana’ to be my favorite. These lilies originate in Africa and Asia and are toxic as well as medicinal depending on how they are used. Unfortunately, in Australia, they are highly invasive because they move into coastal dunes and push out their native plants. Because they contain toxic compounds, they also cause deaths for their native birds and other animals when parts of the plants are ingested. I’ve never heard of this being a problem in the United States but it begs for further research. Most nurseries don’t grow them due to their occasional dormancy periods but I have also seen their bulbs at Home Depot every now and then.

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Filed Under: 1, Featured, Landscape Design Tagged With: Africa, Asia, Australia, Becky, Birds, Botanical Visions, Bulbs, Climbing Lily, Coastal Dunes, Creeping Lily, Deaths, Flame Lily, Flower Buds, Further Research, Gloriosa Lily, Glory Lily, Greenish Yellow, Home Depot, India, Jennifer Mennuti, Lauderdale By The Sea, Lilies, Lily, Mature Plants, Native Animals, Native Birds, Native Plants, Native Species, Nurseries, Orange Varieties, Plant Books, Planter Box, Propagation, Red And Yellow Flowers, Rothschild, Seeds, Sprinkler System, Superba, Tendrils, Toxic Compounds, Tubers, Weed

Learn How to Go Native at Mounts Botanical Garden

July 11, 2011 By Jennifer Mennuti Leave a Comment

On Saturday, August 20th, 2011, members of the Palm Beach Chapter of the Native Plant Society will be at Mounts Botanical Garden from 9:00am-12:00 noon to inspire people to use Florida native plants in their yards. Horticulturalists will discuss various native plant species including their growth requirements such as lighting, water, and soil preferences. They will also explain the benefits of utilizing native plants in landscape design for luring and sustaining wildlife as well as reducing watering, mowing, fertilization and pest control needs. There will also be a guided walk in the native plant demonstration garden as well as native plants available for purchase.

Florida wildflowers are currently being planted throughout the medians along highways statewide. This program reduces the amount of long-term maintenance and provides havens for butterflies and wildlife. There are even License Plates dedicated to the funding of this program. Special seed mixes have been developed by the Florida Department of Agriculture to create large fields of wildflowers along the roadside. The swaths of waving colors provide a magnificent vista during a long drive. These seed packets can be purchased directly from the site.

Botanical Visions recently won a “Florida Friendly” award for a project we designed and installed in Delray Beach. The entire back yard was covered in grass so we removed sweeping beds along the perimeter and replaced it with many different species of native and wildlife attracting plants. It is always fascinating to see how quickly birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators arrive to feed and find shelter. The activity of the birds and insects adds a whole new dimension of movement to the garden. I found myself mesmerized for a while gazing at the dragonflies, and other creatures as they flew from flower to flower, coming in and out of view. When you incorporate native plants and attract these new creatures, you’ll find a whole new reason to escape the bustle of daily life to regenerate your spirit by spending time in your garden.

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Filed Under: 1, Daily Inspirations, Featured, South Florida Events Tagged With: Agriculture Department, Back Yard, Bees, Birds, Botanical Visions, Bustle, Butterflies, Delray Beach, Demonstration Garden, Department Of Agriculture, Dragonflies, Fertilization, Florida Agriculture, Florida Department Of Agriculture, Florida Friendly Award, Florida Native Plants, Florida Plants, Florida Wildflowers, Insects, Jennifer Mennuti, Landscape Design, License Plates, Magnificent Vista, Medians, Mounts Botanical Garden, Native Plant Society, Native Plant Species, Natives, New Dimension, New Reason, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Chapter, People, Perimeter, Pest Control, Pollinators, Seed Packets, Soil, Spending Time, Term Maintenance, Visions

The Art of Deception

June 10, 2011 By Jennifer Mennuti Leave a Comment

Pollination is a primary goal for the plant kingdom. Results depend on many factors, but luring and attracting are key. Previously, in a blog post about Bird of Paradise, we illustrated how the flower included a perch for birds to utilize in order to pollinate their flowers. Stapelia plants scoff at such tactics and utilize disgusting odors instead! It’s rather common place for flowers to smell fabulous so Stapelias think outside the box and and use the opposite approach. By mimicking the smell of rotting flesh, these plants have earned their name “carrion flowers”. They are very successful in luring large flies to their alien-like flowers. The flies are often so thoroughly confused that they will even lay their eggs in the flowers thinking their larvae will have an instant food source when they hatch. If you can tolerate the smell, they are fascinating plants to observe with their spiky, succulent stems and crazy, smelly flowers. The most common variety has large, hairy, star-shaped flowers which look like pointy balloons before they pop open and summon the flies. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

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How Bird of Paradise Flowers Lure Birds to Pollinate Them

June 2, 2011 By Jennifer Mennuti 1 Comment

Bird of Paradise Pollination

Expert Design is truly understanding a situation or problem and creatively and effectively presenting a solution. The problem with plant reproduction is how to move pollen from a stamen to the stigma and this can be accomplished several ways but it all depends on the design of the flowers. If a plant is generally pollinated by wind, the flowers will usually be small and unscented. If the pollinators are insects, the flower design usually incorporates fragrance and color. Luring birds may require installing a perch within the flower structure!

Strelitzia reginae, Orange Bird of Paradise, originate in South Africa where they are pollinated by Sunbirds which land on their stamens as a perch to reach the nectar in the heart of the flower. As the birds stand on the perches provided by the plant, the blue petals unfold and open to reveal white pollen inside. This pollen is then transferred to the birds’ feet and lower feathers as they drink the sweet nectar and the birds carry it to a receptive flower allowing seed formation.

Nature is often a teacher of expert design so we can attract what we want or need.

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Filed Under: Daily Inspirations, Featured Tagged With: Bird Of Paradise, Birds, Birds Feet, Botanical Visions, Expert Design, Feathers, Feet, Flower, Flower Design, Flower Structure, Flowers, Formation Nature, Fragrance, Heart, Perches, Petals, Plant Reproduction, Pollen, Pollination, Pollinators, Seed Formation, Several Ways, South Africa, Stamen, Stamens, Stigma, Strelitzia Reginae, Sunbirds, Sweet Nectar

Hiking along Kings Canyon National Park

May 4, 2011 By Bill Reeve Leave a Comment

This was my first extended hiking and camping trip in my young adult life. A friend asked me to go with his camping buddies to the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and experience the wilderness for 8 nights, 9 days in total. Well, I was informed and given a list of camping equipment to either rent or buy. It turned out to be a big investment but that’s another story. The journey began with a 6 hour drive up a mountainous road to the secluded Park. Once we arrived to our destination we left the last outpost of civilization and hopped onto a small ferry to cross a lake. From that point on, we were on our own. We signed a release form back at the ranger station that said you’re on your own and we won’t help in case you get into an trouble, or something like that. Well, from that point on a new experience of excitement and thrill came over me and I took off to sleep among the bears, birds and camp fire that transformed my life ever since.