IN THE NOT SO BLEAK MID-WINTER

What's winter like in Florida? It depends. It depends on where you live in Florida and what the winter is like. I lived 21 years n Miami where there could be a few days in the 30s or 40s in a bad year. Here in Central Florida we can get into the 20s and upper teens. This year has been especially cold, although I admit there are many, many days when the temperature rises into the 70s. I wrote about the seasons a few months ago before the current nasty cold came down upon us. Recently, on a very clear, cold day I took pictures of the trees around the church to give people an idea of what the local flora is like.


First a palm, what everyone expects to see in Florida.



This is the palm that the blankety-blank squirrels are using to get on the roof of the church so they can gnaw holes in the soffits. We thought we had evicted them permanently, but there seems to be a type of super squirrel that can chew through aluminum. Begone, little Satans! Go live in a tree and stay out of our building.



This is commonly called a sago palm, only it's not a palm at all but a cycad (Cycas revoluta), one of the oldest terrestrial plant types on earth. Some people think they're ugly, but I find them fascinating. They are native to southern Japan and so are an exotic species. Unfortunately, some incurable disease has infected all the sagos, and they are slowly dying. I recently learned that the plants are poisonous, so I have been thinking of placing some fronds near the squirrel holes in hopes that they munch on them and DIE. With my luck it would probably cause them to mutate into giant vampire squirrels with teeth that can cut through case-hardened steel.

And now, the oak.



People usually don't associate oaks with Florida, but we have a some quite majestic trees on the property. (Well, the community is called Marion Oaks.) In their bare form they give a wintery look to the church grounds.

But these are also oaks–live oaks.



Until I moved here I had no idea there were evergreen oaks. The leaves are quite unlike the deciduous oaks, but they produce acorns–many of which fall upon your car if you're dumb enough to park in their shade during the summer.

This is a tree that ought not to be here: a maple.




Somebody planted about half a bazillion maples in row after straight row across the front of the property so the place looks like a tree farm. Worse yet, maples do not thrive in our hot weather so they are always spindly, sickly looking trees. I think we've removed 39 trees so far and it doesn't look like we've touched their ranks. Their one saving grace is the red seed-pods (those aren't leaves) that hang from their branches in winter.


Next are cypresses.




I wish we had more of these evergreens, enough to form a screen between us and some of the ugly sheds some of our neighbors have erected near the property line. The cypress are beautiful, full trees. There are some cypress where I live that are deciduous, their sprays turning a dull orange before they fall to the ground. Well, why not. If there can be evergreen oaks why not deciduous evergreens? Also, the cypress that grow near my pond have knees, woody projections that grow up from the roots. Nobody knows exactly why.


Now the tree you've all been waiting for.




ORANGE TREES filled with oranges. We have a grove of six trees at the back of the property. They were a mess when I first came here, choked with undergrowth and producing sour fruit. One of out members, Merle, took care of the trees and transformed them into a wonder. Each winter we have hundreds and hundreds of oranges to give away. At least we did. The hard freezes have taken a terrible toll on the trees this year. We aren't sure if any of them will live through the winter, and if they do, it will be a while before they produce another nice crop like this one. Something I didn't know before I moved to Florida. Orange trees like all citrus trees have huge thorns growing from the branches. They probably are meant to keep animals from getting at the fruit. It doesn't work against squirrels.


As you make your life pilgrimage, take a look at the trees once in a while. And listen for their sounds. "For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Isa 55:12 NRSV)


May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.


Wayne




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