After an amazing visit in the Mantadia National Park the day prior, I awoke early to the sounds of the Common Brown Lemur (Eulemur fulvus) walking outside my bungalow at the Hotel Mikado. What a great way to start my Maromizaha Reserve adventure. I had arrived at the Hotel Mikado at night, so I didn’t see this Dypsis ‘Black Stem’ out…

After a full day of touring the Analamazaotra and Mitsinjo Reserves the day prior, and a good night’s rest at the Vakona Forest Lodge, I was ready to visit the much larger Mantadia National Park. Mantadia National Park and the Analamazaotra Reserve were once one large entity many years ago. Sadly, private logging and slash-and-burn agriculture have since divided the two….

Last week I found myself in Encinitas, so, having a little extra time, I figured it would be a great opportunity to do a tour of the Self Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens. For such a magnificent little garden, it is amazing how few people living in Southern California actually know about it. The Meditation Gardens themselves are part…

This past weekend my daughter had a soccer tournament at Coronado. Chance would have it that a family not big on mornings would get starting game times of 8 AM on Saturday and Sunday. With the coach’s requirement to be at the game 1 hour prior, that would mean a 5 AM wakeup to get to Coronado on time….

I have a few old-timer friends that have been collecting plants and building their garden for over 40 years now. When they ask me where I get some of my rare plants and I tell them off the Internet, they just laugh. They remind me that “back in their day” they would either have to travel…

The first thing to come to mind when somebody mentions the word Croton I instantly think of Southern Florida. From what I have witnessed it must be one of South Florida’s most popular shrubs and this is due in part to a long history with the plant. For others, the first thing to come to mind might also be a…

I love growing tropical hibiscus. The many challenges that come from the endeavor are certainly subdued once you witness them in flower. The beautiful blooms attract attention from a great distance in the garden and some flowers have such unique colors and patterns that you’d think only an artist could come up with them. Currently my two favorite…

This post is a continuation of last week’s Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden tour. As promised, I will now focus on the amazing plants of Nong Nooch. I mentioned last week that I had taken over 400 photos during my visit. With great effort I was able to filer that amount down to 40 for this post….