Skip to main content

Featured

The Garden Awakens

Anise 'Woodland Red' ( Illicium floridanum ) A few weeks ago, I thought spring would never arrive, but now the change is astonishing. The nights are still cold (40s and sometimes even 30s) so planting tender annuals and vegetables is unwise although I have already succumbed, but covering and uncovering things gets old quickly. Someone made a wise comment last week and I must agree with them - "Don't plant anything tender until after May 1". Several plants are blooming like never before. One is the Anise shrub (above and below). I don't know if the recent tree pruning, which is allowing more sun into the woodland path, is affecting it or perhaps it is just age, but I've never seen so many blooms. Michael refers to this as "the stinky fish shrub" and I have to admit to smell of the flowers is quite unpleasant. It is so beautiful that I can overlook that. The old pink dogwood tree, which was already here, shades our woodland path and it too is prett
4 comments
Read more
Labels

Henderson State Park

Henderson State Park is located right along Hwy 98 in Destin and runs along the coastline. You will notice an obvious difference in this state park when comparing to Eden State Park in my last post. Henderson is what I call a "sand dune park" while Eden, which is located about seven miles inland has more trees and traditional plants. We've usually just passed the sand dune parks by because, frankly, they didn't seem that interesting. I was wrong about that.

I stumbled across Henderson State park on the Internet and the descriptions of a nature trail and labeled plants perked my interest. When we arrived, on a blustery overcast morning, I was disappointed when we walked up to the nature trail and I saw this view:



You can see the condos in the distance and to the right is Hwy 98 and you can see traffic moving along it. However, once you top the hill in the above photo, the path leads downward and you find yourself in a huge bowl full of winding trails and very interesting plants and striking combinations.

There are many dead trees and at first I could not help but wonder why they don't remove them. However, after looking at them for a while, I began to like them and they certainly created great scenes for interesting photographs.
Saw Palmetto

The beach was quite beautiful - clean white sand and immaculate upkeep. There are signs everywhere about state laws that protect the sand dunes. You are not to step on them or disturb the plants. In other words, stay off the dunes!



There were some plant signs but not many and I was disappointed that
many of the plants were not identified.



The visit to Henderson State Park turned out to be a very pleasant one and it changed my opinions about the coastline parks. I spent an hour or more taking photos and by the time we left, the sun had returned.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. LesNovember 11, 2011 at 6:12 PM

    I always like looking at other people's vacation photos, and have enjoyed your recent posts. I think I would have liked visiting each of these state parks, but for different reasons, and I am glad there is at least one place on the beach not covered in condos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GailNovember 12, 2011 at 10:38 AM

    Destin is such a fun beach to visit~ off season! Now I have two other really cool spots to make the trip last longer! Lovely photos. gail

    ReplyDelete
  3. KrisNovember 13, 2011 at 5:36 PM

    Great pictures, that park looks just like St. Andrews state park in Panama City. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PeggyNovember 16, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    I agree with you about the dead trees. They add a wildness that I really like.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts