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A few pics from my trip to Florida (2012)

tropicalzone7
11 years ago

I just got back from a short vacation to Disney World and snapped a few pics while I was there! While the weather was hot as always over there, it was more comfortable than here in NYC so I guess I got a little break from the heat (especially the way they use AC down there!).

I'll have an update from my yard right after this!

Some washingtonias...





Sabal Palmettos



Caladiums growing everywhere and ressurection ferns coming back from the dead after 2 strong afternoon thunderstorms.

The Desert Southwest in Disney

Nice Agave and Barrel Cactus

Huge Pagoda Flower



Lots of nice Everglades palms, heres 1 of them

Huge ti plant

Thai Black bananas. There were a lot of these around the water parks as well, some of them over 20 feet tall.

Bottle palm that has probably been here since Magic Kingdom opened! Im sure it got protection during the cold spell 2 winters ago.

Nice Phoenix hybird and a giant Cycad that looks like a Phoenix!

Large Hibiscus bush. Animal kingdom had some Hibiscus over 20 feet tall.

The Royal palms in Magic Kingdom are doing much better this year. Last year they had some damage.

Some queen palms

A few OT Fireworks

Nice single specimen Mediterranean fan palm

Looks like the mountain tops in Florida still have a bit of a snow cover! This "moutain" is actually part of the Expedition Everest Ride in Animal Kingdom

Some goats

Giraffes and Sabals

Everglades Palms

Forgot this birds name but it was not too happy

A nice african native that's not seen much in the US, Kigelia africana (Sausage Tree). Im going to assume that this tree is not a fake, but maybe someone can verify that. Looks like the real thing to me!

Huge Aloe

Licuala

Philodendron at least 20 feet up the tree

Plumeria Pudica bloom

A nice royal palm

Some more royal palms

100s of orchids and staghorn ferns in the trees around the entrance of Animal Kingdom. Definitely something you would expect to see in a rainforest.

Bismarkias are extremely popular palms at many hotels and many theme parks. This one doesnt look anywhere near as nice as some of the others around Disney and Orlando, but it does show the average size of them around Central Florida.

View from my room, Turtles in the Canal. And there was a baby alligator in the canal as well that they said they would have to scoop out and relocate in a few months.

For all those who like Long Leaf Pines...

The beginning to some really great 4th of july fireworks.

The plantings around this hotel includes a lot of native plants and typical Florida plants, I didnt even see a date palm on the property but there were a few washingtonias. The hotel next to it has bismarkias, dates, sabals, washingtonias, and tons of tropical shrubs.





I really liked this Sabal palmetto for some reason

Can anyone ID this banana. I have this one in my yard and it was labled as an "Ice Cream", but it definitely is not. Im thinking Namwah.





This landscape reminds me of Cali!

Really healthy queen and bougainvillea

Thanks for looking! Hope everyone had a good 4th of July and a great week. Pics of my yard soon!

-Alex

Comments (24)

  • wheelman1976
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Awesome pics. So many that I wish I could have up in Michigan.

  • bradleyo_gw
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hope you had a fun trip. Disney's fireworks display, while short, was easily the best I've seen. What was even more impressive to me was the light show on the castle.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks wheelman. I feel the same way, I wish I could grow those palms in my yard year round! Florida has a great climate.
    Thanks Bradleyo, the fireworks are really great in Disney. I saw Magic Kingdom and Epcot's 4th of July fireworks and Epcots were definitely a little better (they were both great though!). During the grand finale it was so loud it sounded like a war zone!
    -Alex

  • subtropix
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    TZ, African Sausage tree is an awesome site. Yes, they are quite real. If you think the fruits are exotic, you should see the flowers. By the way, they are fairly easy up north as houseplants, but no, mine has not bloomed--yet.

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    Kigelia africana, Sausage Tree is very real, but I wouldn't recommend trying any on the BBQ. I have a small one, but not even a frankfurter yet.

    The "Philodendron" is actually Monstera deliciosa. The palm below it looks like Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks NJ and TropicalBreezent! I knew that African Sausage tree's exist, but I didnt know if it was the real thing or maybe disney's imagineer's at work. I agree now, definitely looks like the real tree and a very healthy one too. And tanks for the ID on the Palm and the "Philodendron". I always call Monstera's Philodendrons even though they arent!
    Thanks for looking!
    -Alex

  • chadec
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice pics, hope you enjoyed your vacation. Looks like we will be getting a break from this heat Monday. Few more winters like last year our palms might start looking like those washys.lol

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Chadec! Good thing we are getting a little break from the heat. I love summer weather, but upper 90s and low 100s is a little too much. 84F-92F is good for me for daytime temperatures this time of the year.
    I wish my palms would get tall like those washys, if every winter was like last year's maybe I'd have a chance to get some tall palms some day, but I think I'll have to protect and wait a decade or so!
    -Alex

  • garyfla_gw
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    if you ever get a chance take a tour of the underground servive network as well as the GH"s They raise like 3 million annuals for the parks as well as duplicates of all tropical plantings. How they keep all this going to me is more remarkable than what is seen on the streets.lol
    The setup for the "Christmas show is unbelieveable. Amazing what can be done with lots of money and hundreds of employees!!?? gary

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the info Gary! I heard about how incredible Disney's plants "behind the scenes" are and I definitely will try to tour that next year! Disney World is so big I can only imagine how many plants they need!
    -Alex

  • andyandy
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    great pics, thanx for sharing, I haven't been there in almost 20 years

  • lzrddr
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Don't think your Licuala is a Licuala... looks way too beefy and irregular... my guess is a Livistona (probably saribus), though I have seen Sabal mauritiiformis being misidentified as a giant Licuala, too.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Andy, Florida is a beautiful place, I usually go about twice a year.
    Thanks for the correction lzrddr. Livistonia saribus has a similar look (to me anyways) to Licuala ramsyii when young so I got those a bit confused. Both are very beautiful palms and should be used more in Central Florida.
    -Alex

  • cfa_li
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful photos. I love Florida, I haven't been there since 2007. That last trip is what got me interested in palms, I can't wait to go back.

  • aloyzius
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh I wish I had known you were there. I have an annual pass and I'm always there looking at plants. But I can never find a gardener there who knows what's what. A couple months ago there were some Mediterranean fan palms at mk that were dropping seeds so I grabbed a handful. And now I have some real live magic kingdom seedlings. Kind of a neat feeling. I've picked up other things but so far this is the only stuff that has done anything. I love the plants and the design work there.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks cfa li, Florida is a beautiful place. I've been going there since I was little and I have always loved the towering palms, it's definitely where I started getting into growing palm trees and other tropicals.
    Thanks Aloyzius! It must be nice to have an annual pass and to live in that kind of climate! I got some loquat seeds from a tree at the hotel, but that was it this year. Last year I went after a bad storm so I got some ball moss off the ground, I really like the airplants on the trees in Florida. The landscaping in all the theme parks in Florida is really nice. The theme parks around here usually try to incorporate some tropical plants, but nothing like Florida can do!
    -Alex

  • statenislandpalm7a
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lots of amazing tropicals. That bizmarkia looks great. I wish I lived in that type of climate.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Dennis, there really are lots of nice palms and other tropicals in Florida. Bismarkias would probably be one of the first things I'd plant if I had that climate.
    -Alex

  • david_
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice pic's of plants at Disney. Most of the royal palms in your pic's look more like foxtails to me. Foxtail palms are more cold sensitive and show damage a few degrees sooner than Royals.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Wodyetia bifurcata

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks david! Your definitely right, they are foxtails, I was very lazy with ID'ing them (and maybe a little surprised to see such nice sized foxtails in Central Florida!). Some of the foxtails in southern florida were damaged in the freezes 2 winters ago, and this one also had a bit of damage. They have a nice group of them in Universal that were undamaged, but I think they may have been protected in some way.
    -Alex

  • LagoMar
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That sabal really is interesting. It looks like it is out of room for growth. Pavement bound.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Im not sure what they put near the soil line, but that pavement looking thing near the bottom of the palm is actually a squishy material that I guess they use to keep the soil from flowing out during rain and to keep it looking nice and clean. I think it's king od unique to see a young sabal palmetto growing in the middle of concrete ike that, usually palmettos are in groups or at least on grass.

  • Jeff Ashenfelter
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just returned from Disney World about a week ago. That's amazing to see pictures of all the same plants I had been staring at while I was down there.

    Did you take the safari tour in Africa. I can't remember the name of the tree, it was something like the bilabong tree, but the tour guide said it looks like an upside down tree and that it spend 9 months a year without leaves. Then she said that this tree in the park was 2000 years old. So I kept scratching my head and was finally stupid enough to ask if Disney World had the trees brought in from Africa. Fortunately the guide didn't hear me so my mom repeated it. The guides response was, what do you mean? we are in Africa. Did you fall asleep on the plane? Haha. So I guess that was one of Disney's special effects.

  • tropicalzone7
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I did take the African tour. Haha I cant believe the guide played along with that, that's pretty funny. Im sure they wait all day to say something like that!
    The trees your thinking of are Baobab trees and all the info about them are true. At the size they are in Animal Kingdom, they are sometimes up to 1000 years old. They also lose their leaves for much of the year and then for a short period of time make lots of leaves and blooms during the short wet season.
    The trees could probably survive in Florida (There are some in Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami which stays green for most of the year since Florida is wet most of the year and then loses it's leaves in the winter when Florida gets very little rain), but they would never get to the size that Disney needs them to be to make it look like Africa so they did some "imagineering" and created the trees with concrete.
    That whole area was completely flat land before Animal Kingdom, they added truck loads and truck loads of dirt daily for much of the construction time in Animal Kingdom in order to give the landscape enough dynamics to pull off the African look. Disney World is a pretty impressive place for sure with lots of great plats!
    -Alex