“Summer time, and the livin’ is easy… fish are jumpin’……….” and that describes my 6 day vacation on a houseboat on the St. Johns River in Florida.

It was time to take a little break from tree work. What with the October snowstorm that resulted in removals and storm damage hangers…. little to no snow throughout the winter…. and then an early Spring, we’d been going full steam ahead for months. You know what they say about ‘all work and no play’!

So I thought I’d share some vacation photos and interesting info on the flora and fauna of northern Florida.

Two of the most common trees growing along the River are the ‘Cabbage Palm’ and the Cypress.

Cabbage Palm

The Cabbage Palm (aka Sabal Palmetto) is a Florida native and the state tree. Both the Seminole Indians and the early settlers used the Palm for buildings and pilings, baskets and as food. Nowadays it’s used in landscaping and as an avenue tree. At maturity it reaches up to 80 feet and is tolerant of a variety of soils ranging from coastal marshes to flatwoods.

Cypress Trees

The Cypress is an elegant, long lived tree. They can grow up to 150 ft. tall and live over 500 years. Remember what I said in last month’s blog about tree roots needing oxygen to survive? In water saturated environments the Cypress tree sends up ‘knees’ (a part of the root system) which transports air to the submerged roots. Native Americans often used the cypress for dugout canoes. Because cypress wood is so water resistant it was even used for water pipes in the early 1900’s.

There was plenty of activity on the river – and it came in all forms . Barges are used for transport .

River Barge

A small seaplane made an appearance.

Seaplane

And of course there is the Florida Alligator. Being on the water, rather than in the water was definitely my preference! There are now over a million alligators in Florida, and this was one of them.

Florida Alligator

Now we’re back to work – with tree removals, pruning, stump grinding and deep root fertilizing.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Tim Bradley – Arborist