April Flowers

I love this time of the year in Florida because everyone is gearing up to work in their yards , there are all kinds of gardening events, the sun is not yet oppressive, and the weather is perfect.

As some of you know, I love visiting St Augustine and the Annual St Augustine Flower and Garden Expo provided the perfect excuse to wander around. As usual, click each photo for a better view.

I took a wide angle shot to give an idea of the size of the area that is the St. Johns County Agricultural Center. The Center surrounds this little lake and is a great place to just walk around and enjoy all the foliage they cultivate.

I was not alone in my desire to enjoy the sun and the view. Many people arrived with little wagons to buy plants and some just wanted to get ideas for the growing season.

While there were a number of vendors, two in particular caught my eye:

First, there was the Aroma Affair soap lady (soapqueen@bellsouth.net), which had a number of decorative and heavenly smelling glycerin soaps.

and Garden Strokes, with painted windows that had the look of Italy right here in Florida!

I particularly liked this one, and thought of using this approach for French doors I want to lead out to the pergola.

And now on to the flowers... I came looking for good subjects to photograph and was rewarded with a flower design competition. There were numerous categories, but I decided to focus on the most exciting areas: multi-media (flowers and objects) and pure flower design (the entire design made out of plants).

Multi-media: Best in Show

the design on the left took first place, the one on the right second place...

and center piece here had a bit of whimsy with an Asian theme, which took third. All three look more like sculptures don't you think? I'll leave it to someone like Chrissy to come up with the names of the flowers. If you know be sure to let me know!

Plant Designs: Best in Show

These I found really magnificent. Again, you have the concept of living sculptures in that every part of the piece is made out of some form of greenery.













the design on the lower left took first place and I can understand why. It is a testament to creative design and construction. Enlarge each photo so you can see the flowers or plants that were used. I was really amazed at the creative use of both.

And there you have it... I got some wonderful pictures, bought some plants for my yard, and had a wonderful time in St Augustine... What more could anyone ask?