Those washies around the Hard Rock Cafe are beauties Alex, know you had a good time!

I know, the washys looked amazing there! I really did have a great time! The weather was so beautiful and so were the plants!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Awesome pics, I love the Bismarkia. And everything else I can't grow here.

Bismarkias are one of my favorite palms! And I was definitely thinking of what my yard would look like if I could grow half of the plants I took pics of! Wish I lived in such a warm climate!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Alex,

Looks great and fun. Did you give the squirrels food? Are loquats used in Asian food?

I want to move to Florida, it warmer, and pleasent but everyone says the economy is really hurting down there and its hard to find a good job.

Have a blessed Good Friday.

I wanted to give the squirrels something, but I didnt have anything to give them at the time! They definitely were looking for something! My guess is that the economy isn't much worse there than it is here , but things will be better in a few years and that would be a better time to make a move.
Im pretty sure loquats are used in Asian Food. I've never had one, but I hear they taste pretty good, and I also here that they can survive our winters and stay green all year long! They wont fruit over here, but those evergreen leaves are hard to beat!
Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Very nice pictures I have alarge tulip tree in my bAck yard. I didn't know they grow in Florida

Thanks alot Alex for embedding those bismarkias in my head. I finally broke down and ordered one. Now I have to figure out how to overwinter it when it gets big.

Dennis, Tulip trees have a very wide native range. They are mostly temperate trees, but you can occasionally find them in the wild in Northern and Central Florida. Im pretty sure they are semi-evergreen in the warmer parts of Florida.

Chadec, Bismarkias are so beautiful. I had a potted one, but I kept it too dry over the winter and it died indoors. When you keep it inside, remember to mist it every once and a while and keep it by a nice sunny window. The blue fronds will catch people's attention at any size!

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Wow, amazing photos, thank you for sharing. The tulip tree is native as far south as the deciduous temperate forests of Central Florida. I have seen it just south of Sanford on 17-92 in a small strand of deciduous forest (maybe the actual southern limit of its range) and it does briefly lose its leaves along with the other trees. There is another one in a shopping center a bit north of downtown Orlando (in Maitland) and it also loses its leaves, but I can tell it is not too happy with the climate. I believe the tree shown in tropicalzone7's first photo may actually be a sycamore tree, which is common in the Orlando area, but not much further south. As for palms, that really is a great microclimate in the Universal area.

Someone else said it might be a sycamore and I think your right! Thanks for looking, Universal definitely has a great microclimate!
-Alex

I was just at Universal Studios for spring break! Just got back home a minute before midnight on Easter! I enjoyed the landscaping just as much as the rides and shows! It's like a botanical garden in a way but most of the plants are not labeled.

I was amazed by the size of the sengal date palms! It has so many large trunks. Does anyone have any guess to how old they are?

There was also an odd looking smaller tree near (next too) the pond with the tropical lily pads in Jurassic park that I thought was neat. It had no or very few leafs and a few exotic flowers that were white with very stringy petals. I wish I knew the name of that one.

The star (confederate) jasmine plants planted at the edges of the parking garages smelled amazing (to me anyway) when on the moving walk way.

I also noticed a few sago palms with ripe nuts in the planting near all the flags by the animal show and E.T. ride. The sagos looked very strange. The nuts had brown fuzz all over them. I thought that was intriguing. I wonder what the purpose of the fuzz is.

T.J.

Thanks for looking T.J.! I think I know which plants your talking about. The tree in jurassic park by the ponds with white (almost paintbrush-looking) flowers is called a Shaving Brush Tree also known as Pseudobombax ellipticum. Here's a pic of the one in Universal...

The star Jasmine were really nice! They were all in bloom. I didn't notice a fragrance (I did have a cold) but the gardenia were impossible not to smell! You can easily smell the gardenia bushes 30 feet away at least!

I didnt notice any unusual fuzz on the Sagos but I did see a lot making seeds.

The sengal date palms (probably a cross between sengal dates and canary island dates) is at least as old as the park which opened in 1990 (which means they were in that spot for about 21 years and they were probably already at least 10-20 years old when they got them). So I think its safe to say that the sengal date hybrids at Universal are at least 40 years old and have been in there current spots for about 20 years.

Thanks for looking!
-Alex

Thanks for the info Alex.