Naples Botanical Garden

 As promised, I will show you the beautiful Naples Botanical Garden. Unfortunately though, these are pictures from several years ago. Our flight ended up being cancelled and we couldn't rebook because of the weather. Oh well, I can still show you the warm weather beauty of this garden.

Winding paths take you through the many themed gardens. 

On your way to the Children's Garden, you can step inside the Pfeffer-Beach Butterfly House. This is an enclosed structure where visitors can can step inside and see butterflies hatching from pupa almost everyday of the week.The Chrysalid House is nearby many plants that provide sustenance for the newly transformed.

 Plantings in the Butterfly Garden like this Lion's Ear (Leonotis Nepitifolia) attract it's inhabitants.

The Vicky C. and David Byron Smith Children's Garden has lots of annuals that attract bees and butterflies. Buildings and fences are on a small scale.

Mina Lobata growing on an arbor attracts a bumble bee to its pollen.

The path to the Brazilian Garden winds up a small hill. Dramatic in color and texture, the stroll has a festive flair.

The distinctive feature is the water garden filled with giant water-lilies and lotus. I just read that a simple way to tell the difference between a lotus and waterlily. Waterlilies flowers and leaves float on the surface of the water, and lotuses rise above the surface of the water.

It takes a second to realize that they must have painted the pool in a dark paint. You can't see into the water, but only see the reflections. A dramatic effect with the brilliant colors of the lilies and lotuses contrasted against the brilliant blue sky!

Next you travel over to The  Kapnick Caribbean Garden. A turquoise island house is back drop to a naturalized landscape. But Caribbean botanical history is mostly about the people who stopped there. Very quickly after Christopher Columbus saw this part of the world, it transformed. I recommend the book 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann for a detailed account of this momentous biological event.

 Then the path takes you back through to the Asian Garden. Fruiting palms are gorgeous along the path in February.

Back at the beginning, bananas flower and fruit. This northerner has Gauguinian (as in Paul Gauguin) dreams of living off the fruits of the land in paradise. Quickly though I remember how that worked out for him and realize, I will just have to admire this for brief visits from time to time.