Wow, I had no idea what these flowers were called for we have them growing almost wild in Jamaica and place little value on them.
However, with my Meet Up group led by Jennifer Weis, we had a wonderful day in Lake Placid, dubbed the caladium capital of the world, where they take this plant seriously as it provides quite and income for them.
Lake Placid is a pleasant little town with a population of just over 2000, situated in Highland County (I learnt yesterday that Florida has 67 counties. I had no idea it had so many). It is quite some distance away (over 130 miles) from Broward County in which I live but was worth the trip which took us through scenic farm country and charming little towns.
To get there, we traveled through Palm Beach, Martin and sections of Okeechobee counties.
We didn't just go "flowers looking" though as we stopped on the way at the Hickory Hammock park area to make sure we got our usual Saturday morning exercise, a trek of almost 3 miles.
Hickory Hammock is I understand, sometimes a hunting area for those who want to shoot deer and wild boar and we saw lots of evidence of the presence of wild boar, although none in the flesh. But they clearly were around as our fearless leader pointed to the huge holes in the ground where they furrow to get their protein, worms and bugs. 
Hickory Hammock is a pleasant place to walk during the hot summer days in Florida, because of the shade provided by the huge oak trees of various ages and sizes. It is also very rustic and scenic in its own right with lots of palm, blueberries and other flora. (We were able to find a few ripe blueberries to nibble on).
Nine of us started on the hike but when we returned to our vehicles, we found a late comer waiting to accompany us to the caladium fair.
It was about a half an hour drive from Hickory Hammock to Lake Placid.
Lake Placid as I said earlier, is a pleasant little town but it is made even more attractive by the proliferation of beautifully painted murals on almost every street in the section where the festival was held.
This was the 24th annual Caladium festival and I was really overawed by the variety and sizes of the flowers, both those laid out for sale and those used for attractive decoration all around where the festival was held.
At the fair, you could buy both plants and bulbs and as festivals are, there were booths offering all sorts of craft, foods and other items for sale. There was even a booth giving out water which had a sign saying "Free water for the body. Jesus provides water for the soul".
I guess this might mean Lake Placid is a fairly religious area, I don't know. Just assuming. (But what does assuming mean?
Making an ass of you and me lol.)
It was a nice day but being Florida, it was interrupted by a downpour of rain, but it did not last long.
We took refuge at a craft store which appeared to be run by the community and we actually saw some students working on their craft skills in a classroom there.
But it was surely a day well spent.
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| Section of a caladium farm outside Lake Placid. |
Lake Placid is a pleasant little town with a population of just over 2000, situated in Highland County (I learnt yesterday that Florida has 67 counties. I had no idea it had so many). It is quite some distance away (over 130 miles) from Broward County in which I live but was worth the trip which took us through scenic farm country and charming little towns.
To get there, we traveled through Palm Beach, Martin and sections of Okeechobee counties.
We didn't just go "flowers looking" though as we stopped on the way at the Hickory Hammock park area to make sure we got our usual Saturday morning exercise, a trek of almost 3 miles.
Hickory Hammock is I understand, sometimes a hunting area for those who want to shoot deer and wild boar and we saw lots of evidence of the presence of wild boar, although none in the flesh. But they clearly were around as our fearless leader pointed to the huge holes in the ground where they furrow to get their protein, worms and bugs. 
Hickory Hammock is a pleasant place to walk during the hot summer days in Florida, because of the shade provided by the huge oak trees of various ages and sizes. It is also very rustic and scenic in its own right with lots of palm, blueberries and other flora. (We were able to find a few ripe blueberries to nibble on).Nine of us started on the hike but when we returned to our vehicles, we found a late comer waiting to accompany us to the caladium fair.
Lake Placid as I said earlier, is a pleasant little town but it is made even more attractive by the proliferation of beautifully painted murals on almost every street in the section where the festival was held.
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| A lovely mural on one of the buildings |
At the fair, you could buy both plants and bulbs and as festivals are, there were booths offering all sorts of craft, foods and other items for sale. There was even a booth giving out water which had a sign saying "Free water for the body. Jesus provides water for the soul".
I guess this might mean Lake Placid is a fairly religious area, I don't know. Just assuming. (But what does assuming mean?
It was a nice day but being Florida, it was interrupted by a downpour of rain, but it did not last long.
We took refuge at a craft store which appeared to be run by the community and we actually saw some students working on their craft skills in a classroom there.
But it was surely a day well spent.
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