Garden Thoughts on Vacation

What do garden nerds do on vacation? They lust after gardens in other, warmer zones. They consider bringing back native plants. They purchase goods for the garden. On my last trip to Cape San Blas, Florida, I did all three.

Cape San Blas is my favorite retreat from the world on a little peninsula in the Florida Panhandle. The area goes by the name “The Forgotten Coast” and for good reason. If you want an abundance of restaurants, hotels, stores, put-put golf, amusement parks, and other places in your vacation destination, this area is not for you. If you want solitude, wide empty beaches, untouched woods, and a decent rental house, the Forgotten Coast area fits the bill.

During my time in this area, I lust after the crepe myrtles and hibiscus. I can grow both in my area (Zone 6), but they do not get as magnificent as they do in Florida. In fact, my crepe myrtles were all but obliterated by that jerk Jack Frost last winter. Our below zero temperatures destroyed the crepe myrtles and many other trees and shrubs. In fact, my crepe myrtles spent the summer as little sticks with tiny leaves sticking out of the ground. There were no luscious blooms for me, at least on the vast majority of my crepe myrtles.

The Corinthian Bells windchimes hang on my screened-in porch.

My plant lust often leads to a desire to bring home native plants. For the past couple of years, I have had my eyes on the scrub pines. Maybe it’s just my observation, but Florida seems like it has more scrub pines than it can handle. We drove by an abandoned train track, and I saw tons of scrub pines, including very small saplings. I almost pulled over and snatched one for myself, but then I had images of myself getting hauled in for questioning about my pine tree theft. I’m not well-acquainted with the laws about native plants and easements, and I decided to avoid the drama.

Purchasing items for my yard is a safe fallback. In 2010, I traveled into Port St. Joe, the closest town with a full grocery store, and checked out the shops in area. I stopped at a place called Frost Pottery Garden near the edge of town. Somehow, I didn’t buy anything that day, most likely because I was still living in my half-duplex house with a small yard, but I fell in love with the place.

In 2013, I returned to Port St. Joe to visit the store only to discover it had moved to Mexico Beach, so my husband and I followed it. That time I purchased an awesome concrete turtle with shells embedded on it for my Mom. I am a little selfish because I knew she’d put it in the flower bed that spills into my yard. I also picked up a set of windchimes, and though the windchimes could be purchased anywhere, unlike the turtle, I loved that I bought them on vacation.

This turtle sports shells all over its back.

Here is an aerial view of the turtle.

Unfortunately, we were only in the area for three full days in 2014, so we weren’t able to make a Frost Pottery Garden trip, but this year, we made a special effort to get there. I had told my Mom about the place, and I offered to pick up items for her. Of course, in order for her to see what all they had, I took pictures and emailed them to her. I sat in the Adirondack chairs behind the store discussing photos with my Mom while my husband wandered around looking at the large variety of pots. I ended up selecting a large ceramic, celestial ball through which I can thread a solar light. We even got to enjoy it during vacation on our rental house’s coffee table after putting a candle in it.

I’m planning to put a solar light in the celestial ball when I move it to the fish pond area in the spring.

Though Kentucky has a lot to offer, a vast selection of pottery is hard to find. My thought is that outdoor pottery lasts longer in Florida, so naturally they have a far better selection. Still, Frost Pottery Garden strikes me as a very special place, and I will keep going there year after year. It’s my own way of bringing a little Florida back with me without breaking any laws about digging native plants!

This photo from Frost Pottery Garden does not even begin to do this place justice. The variety of pottery available is staggering.