Tuesday, August 19, 2008

St. George Village Botanical Garden- Part 3

This will be the last leg of our tour (even if it takes me all day to finish this post!)

As we turn to leave the cemetery we see the rare and unusual Umbrella Bush.

(heeheehee!)

And on the Great Lawn is the huge Kapok Tree.

The building behind this tree is the Great Hall. It consists of two original worker row houses and a modern building.

On the other side of the Great Hall is Sweet Lime Walk. This is a walk lined with a hedge of Sweet Lime bushes. These bushes look a lot like Boxwoods, but have little (about 1/2 inch) fruit on them. The Sweet Lime fruit are shaped just like limes, but are bright red. They say that despite the name, they are not sweet, but very sour. I convinced the boys to try them and then the Farmboy came up and tried them. I finally did and maybe Crucian tastebuds are different than Texan tastebuds, because they were as sweet as could be. Tasted like lemonade. Anyway, because everyone was starving at this point and too busy tasting, we have no pictures of any of this.

As you walk down the Sweet Lime Walk you will see buildings that were orginally part of the slave village, later becoming the free worker's village.


Beyond that is the Orchid House. This is a display area for the Garden's collection. This is just a small sampling... they were so gorgeous!






















From here, we turn right and down just a ways is the Touch-Me-Not Tree. Seriously, don't touch it. It'll hurt really bad and then kill you.








As we walk down towards the Rainforest, we are graced with some pretty Plumerias, as well as, some other plants.











Now into the Rainforest.


Termite condo. (this is a very small one!)


Remember, never leave Tour Guide Bob. You might end up lost.


As we come out of the Rainforest, we start seeing more Plantation ruins. The Flume...

at least, I think this is the side of the flume.

The Walk-in Well.


The Overseer's House.


Our tour will have to end here, even though there was more to see... the Lime Kiln, the Conservation Garden, the Tropical Fruit Orchard, the Economically Useful Palms collection and the Native Arboretum. You see, it started raining really hard at this point, so Farmboy sprinted to the gift shop so that the camera didn't get wet. The boys and I continued the tour in the rain until we came upon a palm tree in the Economically Useful Palms collection (I just like saying that:)) whose fronds were huge and touched the ground. There was room enough to stand under it... made a nice, dry, little shelter.

So that's it. Hope you enjoyed it.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely pictures! I loved the umbrella tree...did it have any other colored umbrellas on it? Everything looks so green and lush!

Sherry said...

This kind of reminds me of a few places I've been -- the Kapok Tree Restaurant in St. Pete's Beach in Florida (or somewhere in Florida...I think around there!!) and the rainforest -- I went through one in Martinque...but I have never seen an umbrella tree quite like yours!! lol!!

Jenn said...

wow - I am thouroughly impressed. Great photos and some amazing sites. What an adventure you lucky girl!

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are amazing... so, bright & colorful. If I haven't told you at least 3x already, I am soooo excited about getting to meet you in a couple of weeks. :) he-he xoxo, Joanna

Allie said...

What great pictures! I almost feel like I got to go on the trip, too!! Yes, indeed, the summer went by so quickly. I never got to McKinney like I wanted, however, it's still on my list of things to do. Maybe this fall when it's cooler....a Saturday trip would be fun and I would LOVE to meet up with you and let you show me around downtown and all of the great places you go to. Happy Wednesday!
~Allie

Lori said...

umbrella bush...lol...did it serve you a cocktail too? your pictures are gorgeous... i'll bet the plumeria smelled heavenly!!!

littlethings1 said...

What a wonderful vacation ! Enjoyed reading your blog & also the photo of the rare umbrella tree !! Thanks for stopping by at my blog !!
Eunice

Anonymous said...

Alisa, I wonder if anyone has been unable to resist the do not touch tree and had a "slight" problem!?

Gorgeous pictures! It sounds like a relaxing trip.

Diane

Unknown said...

Wow, those are some awesome pix girl! I loved the umbrella bush..lol..too funny! Thanks so much for wishing my mom a happy birthday. She read your note too:)

Hugs!
Sandy

Caleen said...

I loved all of your beautiful pictures. It makes me just want to be there.. It is a tropical paradise.
Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

LOL. Okay LJ, I have to call you out on the touch-me-not comment. After some careful research; the shrub is named after the phrase "noli me tangere" (Latin for touch me not) which Jesus said to Mary after resurection. The name was so given because the bush is known to have a crown of thorns within its branches.

I guess if someone put the bush on the front of a truck and you touched it while it was going 70MPH, death would probably be involved. :)

In vino veritas! Love you much...
- Farmboy.

Alisa Noble said...

You're killin' me smalls!
That's not what I read about it in that island brochure. And by the way, nobody likes a smartypants! :P
I love you too.
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