AG's Garden and the Beach...

One of the highlights of my trip to Florida was meeting a gentleman that answers to the name A.G. We were invited to his house for cocktails, while we watched the sun set on the beach. He was such a gracious host and he has such a beautiful place. Immediately when you pull up to the front of his abode it’s very obvious that you are about to enter the home of an avid gardener. The outside wall that hides his secret garden is lush with tropical plants. He welcomed us into his fabulous home where we were greeted with the sound of New Age music and the smell of incense. I knew from that instant, I was going to enjoy my time spent in his company. I was later told the incense and music was intended as a joke. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know comedic intentions or not it was right up my alley.

 

We were only there long enough to freshen up our drinks before I asked permission to see his garden and to take a few photographs. He happily obliged and  led us into the first of two courtyards. His garden was filled with crinum, plumeria, climbing fig, thunbergia and trees of all kinds just laden with fruit. I thought to myself, how wonderful it would be to walk outside in the morning and pluck your breakfast from a tree. Ones that immediately caught my eye were the key limes, satsumas and Myers lemons.

 

The garden alleys and pathways were punctuated with awesome statuary like this one of Venus. Any of you that have seen my garden know I am a sucker for statues of goddesses. This is 'Venus De Milo'. He also has ‘Venus Italica’ by Canova and thought it would be really neat if he got ‘Birth of Venus’ to add to his collection. Some how the sea shell seems so appropriate since he's right on the beach.

 

Birds of Paradise and sun symbols were in plenty…

Different versions of Green Man A.K.A. Leaf Man dot the wall and decorate fountains around the garden. He’s the symbol of rebirth, resurrection and a guardian of nature.

After a tour of the garden it was time to trot across the street to the beach and watch the sunset. I think the pictures speak for themselves…

It was a wonderful eveing and I sincerely enjoyed A.G.'s company, I regret the time passed so fast. 

Eden Gardens

This stunning home was built in 1897 by William Henry Wesley. It’s located on the Tucker Bayou near Santa Rosa Beach. Mr. Wesley owned sawmills on the bayou where he cut and distributed pine all over the United States. He used the same pine to build this home. Cypress and juniper were also used in its construction. The photos you see now are post renovation in 1963.

Just look at this gorgeous entry to the property…

Who wouldn’t love to have a picnic under these spectacular old oaks? Some are over 600 years old. If they could only talk, imagine what they would have to say.

This is the way the house looked when it was originally built. Please excuse the glare on the glass. I found better photos online, but I wanted to use the one I took. The roofline was different and so were the columns and cupola. It started off with a more Victorian feel to it. Mr. Wesley was survived by his wife who lived here until she died in 1953. The house stayed empty for 10 years and fell into disrepair.

In 1963 Ms. Lois Genevieve Maxon found the house and couldn’t bear to see it in such shape. She purchased the house for $12,500.00 then turned around and spent an additional 1 million dollars to renovate it. People we are talking the 60’s that was an even bigger chunk of change than it is now. Ms. Maxon wanted a fitting place to display her families beautiful antiques.

When I entered the house I have to say I really expected something a little more on the staircase. These homes usually have such grand ones. When you consider the original style of the house I suppose it’s appropriate.

This house contains the second largest collection of original Louis the XVI furniture in the United States. The upholstery is fab-u-lous. I would never have anything like this in my house, but you have to admire the work that must have gone into making it. You know I take that back, I might would try to find a way to work it in…

This gas light was converted to use electricity… Just look at the gorgeous metal work.

I was lucky enough to get a private tour of the house and I want to say thanks very much to a friend for that. I believe I was told this was Ms. Maxon’s bedroom. Oddly enough she never married. You would think with all that money eligible bachelors would be beating down her doors, but then again that may be the very reason she never wed.

Ms. Maxon wanted everyone to enjoy her home, even when it was her private residence. She asked members of the local garden club to please give tours of her home 2 days of the week so others could enjoy the beauty it had to offer. She was a newspaper woman by trade, when people came for the tours she would take her typewriter and graciously scurry up the stairs to the landing of the cupola to work. She didn’t want to be in the way of the visitors. I went up there and I was positively dying to go out on the widows walk on the roof. Alas, it was not allowed… What a view that would have been!

The estate has a wonderful garden as well. I’m assuming Ms. Maxon was a big fan of camellias because she planted over 100 different species of them on the grounds. Along with the camellias there are also several beautiful sculptures.

Ms. Maxon only lived in her beloved house for 5 years. On Christmas Eve in 1968 she, in the grandest gesture of generosity I’ve ever heard of made a multi-million dollar donation to the people of Florida. She gave her home and all the antiques in it to the state. She lived another 15 years after that and died in April of 1983. Wow…

Next up, A. G.'s garden and the beach...

Yay! I've Been Nominated!

Sharon over at A Lazy Womans Garden nominated me for the Beautiful Bloggers award last week and I was supposes to participate in my next post. Well, it completely slipped my mind so I want to do my part before I continued about my trip to Eden Gardens. I think this is a fun idea and I don’t know why more bloggers don’t like to participate. I’m suppose to tell you seven things about myself that you probably don’t know and pick my favorite bloggers to nominate. So here we go with my seven did you knows about me.


1. Ten years ago I had a blind date with a movie/television star and we are still friends. It was three months before I even knew he was famous. I found out half way through a bologna sandwhich at lunch one day when I saw him on TV.

2. I have 48 nephews and nieces.

3. I once cleaned a live cheetah’s teeth, his name was Emmit. His fur felt like one of those coconut fiber door mats and he had the biggest claws I've ever seen.

4. I nearly drowned in a River when I was about 13. I got caught in an eddy and couldn't get out. I saw my life flash before my eyes and the white light. I still don't swim any more and I will never get in a river again past my ankles.

5. My best friend married a man named Randy and that is also her son’s name.

6. I met my other best friend 21 years ago when I attacked her in a doctor administered drug induced blackout, while in the hospital with a kidney stone. I thought she was copping a feel while taking my x-ray; we are still very best friends to this day.

7. I don’t mind handling snakes, but I refuse to pick up one of those little green lizards or those nasty little rain frogs.


Now for my nominations… pretty much everyone’s blog I read on a regular basis has chosen not to participate in memes or awards so I’m not nominating. What I am doing is inviting everyone that reads this post to participate and ask that you come back and place the web address to your post in my comments. I’d love to know more about you and I think this is a fun way to do it!

Blooming 11/05/12

 

The Camellias have never bloomed as well or as early as they have this year. My shrubs aren’t that old so they aren’t very large but they are just loaded with blooms. This camellia is named ‘Mine No Yuki’ and it was renamed to ‘White Doves’ when it was brought to the United States. I think I actually like the name ‘White Doves’ better.

 I have two of these in the garden planted in a triangle patter with a third one that’s pink. If I had known the white was going to be so gorgeous I never would have thrown that pink one in there. They don’t bloom at the same time and three of the white would look much better. I found them marked down drastically at Lowes, so that’s how the pink found a home. It’s one of those decisions you make and then rethink at a later time. I would buy a third one to replace ‘Crimson Candles’, but they grow so slow it would take forever to catch up to the other two. If it gets to bothering me bad enough I might just concede and purchase a more expensive larger plant.

I’ve purchased several re-blooming irises, but of all the ones I have/had (I’ve lost a lot of them the past two years) ‘Autumn Tryst’ never fails to give me blooms in the fall. I may dig it up and spread it around a little so I can have it in different areas of the garden. I really hope I don’t lose any more of them. I had some gorgeous, very expensive irises that have fallen victim to this weird weather the past couple of years.

 

While I was walking around I spied a single spike of brilliant blue among the dead Blackeyed Susans. The contrast was so intense it was just begging me to take its picture. I know it’s just a single blue spike, but it called out to me.

‘The Fairy’ is putting out one last flush for me before the cold weather hits. This rose is really in a bad spot even thought its performing well. The poor thing is hidden by a host of other plants.

 

I went away for the weekend and took lots of pictures so I’ll be putting them up in more than one post. The first post will be about another Eden I visited. Eden Gardens on the Tucker Bayou, I'll have the post up in a couple of days.

Halloween is Upon Us!

Recently I made a pact with myself to spend more time enjoying the holidays, all holidays, not just the big ones. With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be nice to put a theme to this month’s supper club. I’ve never really been one to appreciate all the “cute-sie” decorations so this is my version of a Halloween dinner.

 

Once a month we have a group of people that get together for a supper club. The evening usually starts off with a cocktail hour followed by dinner. The host provides the meat and the other members bring the complimenting sides. It’s just a small group and we had a really nice time. This was our week to host so Colvin and I wanted to put a little Halloween spin on it. Everything in the room was done for fewer than 20 dollars and I think it came out pretty well. Not all the decorations are shown, but below are pictures of some of them. I apologize up front for the quality of the photos. I left my camera at the house and these were all taken with my phone. The first photo is of the bar covered in spider webs dotted with a few creepy crawlies.

 

 For the table arrangement I used a mercury glass vase with dead limbs from a little oak in the backyard. I topped it off with a few pine cones and then attached three crows from the Dollar Tree. Also from the Dollar Tree, a couple of rats, a few spiders sprinkled around the base, throw in two un-polished silver candlesticks and voila. You have a Halloween centerpiece. I love the aged look of the candlesticks with the mercury glass. I thought it came out very well.

 

I also discovered this neat little idea too. The little plastic rings make wonderful charms for stemmed glassware. Stick on a couple of decals and you have perfectly decorated glasses for the occasion. I suppose you could do the same for any holiday. I love the little skull and cross bones on the martini glasses!

 

The menu:

Broiled Barbque Porkchops with Mango Ginger Chutney

Pear and Roasted Pecan Coleslaw

Dirty Cajun Rice

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Two people were missing from our group, but we sent them a member’s only video clip of the dinner while they were in New York. Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

P. S. I've been nominated for an award by 'The Lazy Womans Garden' and I'll list the seven things about me in the next post. :0)

 

No Words Just Wings...

My Weekend...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This was a three day weekend for me and I should have used it to rest, but instead I was busy running the roads with friends. I went to Cuthbert, Georgia this weekend to visit my longtime friend James or as I like to call him Jaybeaux. He bought his dream home six years ago and he’s been committed to a major labor of love ever since. As long as I’ve known him he’s always wanted and been fascinated by grand old southern homes. Well, six years ago this month he finally found one and he’s been working on restoring it. Below are three pictures from his Facebook page that I snagged for this post. This is what the house looked like when he found it. Now, tell me it’s not a determined soul that will take on a project like this.

 

This is no small house either. Behind the main house you can see the ballroom and also the old outside kitchen. It was built in 1853.

 

This is Jaybeaux on the side of the house after he and Ken removed all the shrubs and debris from around the property. This really gives you a good idea of the scale of the house. James told us this weekend he was terribly afraid of heights and he had to make himself climb the scaffolding a little higher each day until he was no longer scared. Let me tell you something, that molding at the roofline is waaaaaaaaay up there. I got dizzy just looking up from the second floor porch.

 

This is the work he’s done so far. Pretty amazing don’t you think? I guess he could see something no one else could. A lot of hard work and love have gone into this house. James is not a construction expert, he's not wealthy, he's just a determined person figuring it all out as he goes along. Making his dream come true one board and one can of paint at the time. I have no doubt he and Ken will completely restore this old house in it's entirety. What an accomplishment...

 

It was a nice four hour trip, two hours to get there and two hours to get back home. It was a pleasant little Sunday drive and was punctuated with pretty scenes like this one. Wildflowers were in bloom all over the place. I don’t know what these purple flowers are, but we saw two cow pastures filled with them.

 

 We got back to Montgomery just as the sun was starting to set. The clouds were making a very unusual pattern that afternoon. I pulled off to side of the interstate to take this picture. Friday night and Saturday with my good friend Carol, Sunday lunch with my dear friend Jaybeaux and nice holiday to rest the following Monday. All in all a pretty good weekend...