Florida gardens illustrate the amazing biodiversity of the state as well as plant collections from other tropical areas of the world. In The Garden Tourist's Florida, garden designer Jana Milbocker guides you on a fantastic tour of 80 tropical gardens and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. From the plantation-style gardens of northern Florida to the private Edens of painters and sculptors, botanical collections of world-renowned plant hunters, and European-inspired estates of Miami, there is something for every gardener to enjoy in a tour of the state. The Garden Tourist's Florida features outstanding botanical gardens, historic estates, butterfly gardens and zoos, specialty nurseries, and off-the-beaten-path destinations for the passionate gardener. - Preview 80 outstanding gardens in 204 pages richly illustrated with 500 photos. - Enjoy the best botanical and historic gardens in Florida. - Plan your trips with regional maps, contact information, sample itineraries, and garden amenities.
New England has a rich gardening heritage. In The Garden Tourist's New England, garden designer Jana Milbocker takes you on a fantastic tour of 140 gardens and nurseries and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. From the breathtaking flower gardens of Mount Desert Island in Maine, to Colonial Revival gardens in Connecticut and New Hampshire, topiary gardens in Rhode Island, and botanical gardens in Vermont and Massachusetts, there is something for every gardener to enjoy in a tour of the region. A companion to the Northeast edition of The Garden Tourist, this guide features notable private gardens, specialty nurseries, and off-the-beaten-path destinations for the passionate gardener.?Preview 140 outstanding gardens including 34 specialty nurseries in 264 pages richly illustrated with 700 photos.?Enjoy the best botanical, historic, and private gardens in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.?Plan your trips with regional maps, contact information, sample itineraries, and garden amenities.
With the arrival of the twentieth century, Americans continued in the pioneering spirit of their forebears and looked upon the automobile as a new way to explore the unknown. Thousands of Americans packed their tents in the backs of their cars and set out to enjoy the back roads of the United States. Carrying extra gasoline in five-gallon cans, plenty of canned food, and extra tires strapped to the fenders, these intrepid souls began an exploration of the North American continent with a thoroughness that put Lewis and Clark to shame. These tourists became the symbol of another "New Generation" of Americans, restless, adventuresome, and filled with boundless curiosity. These were the "Tin Can" tourists. In 1919, the official organization of Tin Can Tourists of the World was formed in Tampa, and the group held two meetings annually until disbanding in 1977. Early on, residents of Florida recognized the potential economic impact of the Tin Canners on the state, and the movement to improve roads and provide accommodations and amusements to these seasonal travelers flourished. By 1930, Florida had built more than 3,000 miles of paved roads, and campsites, roadside motels, and exotic animal parks could be found along most major thoroughfares.
The Northeast has a wealth of gardens and nurseries. The Garden Tourist highlights 120 of the most outstanding options. Visit 120 botanical gardens, historic estates, and destination nurseries in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hudson River Valley in New York, eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Preview gardens with 500 photos and plan your trip with regional maps, itineraries, and symbols that illustrate garden amenities.
Cypress Gardens was Florida's original theme park where movie stars, water-ski champions, and Southern belles created magic. To someone weathering a New England winter, Dick Pope's Cypress Gardens looked exotic. The images coming out of his promotional powerhouse appeared in magazines, newspapers, newsreels, and movies depicting everything from bathing beauties aquaplaning through walls of fire to Southern belles relaxing beneath huge tropical plants, from Don Ameche proposing to Betty Grable under moss-hung cypress trees to Esther Williams performing a water ballet in a Florida-shaped pool. It was all happening in sleepy Winter Haven, where one real estate maverick turned tourism tycoon was out to sell "100,000 [visitors] 25 cents worth of Florida." This book reveals the empire Pope built from a remote swampland to its heyday as a famous water-sports destination and playground for such stars as Joan Crawford, Johnny Carson, and Carol Burnett, as well as royalty from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to King Hussein of Jordan. It also discusses the park's decline following the construction of Walt Disney World, changes in management, the evolving interests and vacationing habits of the nation, as well as its outlook for the future as a part of LEGOLAND Florida.
Many counties in Florida now require that new commercial landscapes contain a percentage of native plants. Native landscapes are easier to maintain, use less water and thrive without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Native Florida Plants describes every type of regional flora—-from seaside foliage and wildflowers to grassy meadows, shrubs, vines, and aquatic gardens—-in 301 profiles and accompanying color photographs.
Captured in such unusual vintage attractions as the 1906 Historic Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee Island, the ornate Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, and the mysterious Coral Castle, constructed entirely from coral by one man. Old Florida is the first book to show the full range of architectural styles -- from the grand to the modest -- that demonstrate the eclecticism of this intriguing state. In 150 spectacular color and black-and-white images, photographers Steve Gross and Sue Daley have captured the essence of Old Florida in a book that will fascinate residents, tourists, and armchair travelers alike. Book jacket.
"Illustrates the drive and dedication of a remarkable couple, Franz and Louise Scherr, and their children as they braved adversity during the depression and World War II to establish 'The World's Only Parrot Jungle.' It is a beautiful story of the human spirit."--William P. VanderWyden III, University of Miami School of Law "A lively, comprehensive account of a famed, one-of-a-kind tourist attraction."--Paul S. George, Miami-Dade Community College This colorfully illustrated book tells the story of one of Florida's oldest and most popular tourist attractions. Built in 1936 in a lush hardwood hammock near Miami, Parrot Jungle and Gardens has entertained, enthralled, and educated more than 15 million visitors, and is home to more than a thousand stunning macaws, mynah birds, cockatoos, parakeets, and peacocks. Offering a glimpse into the tropical fantasy world that represented Florida tourism for postwar America, Parrot Jungle was one of hundreds of privately owned roadside attractions built during the thirties that featured Florida's natural splendor. Most have disappeared, making way for corporate-owned theme parks--except for Parrot Jungle. An Austrian immigrant, Franz Scherr, and his family opened the attraction with a dozen macaws and parrots and an assortment of raccoons, opossums, and land crabs. It has survived a world war, gas shortages, devastating hurricanes, rampant development, bird robberies, and a change in ownership--all while displaying several hundred species of subtropical birds which fascinate visitors with their intelligence, exotic beauty, distinct personalities, and remarkable capacity to mimic human voices. Some have been with the attraction longer than any employee--50 years or more. Over the years, they appeared on television's Miami Vice, posed with Jackie Gleason, Winston Churchill, and Miss America, and stole the show at the Florida exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair. Miami's Parrot Jungle and Gardens traces the history of a pioneer attraction from the golden age of "Mom and Pop" tourism, an enduring South Florida institution that will continue to draw appreciative crowds for decades to come. Cory H. Gittner is a freelance writer and the owner of Mediatech, a public relations and marketing firm in Miami Shores, Florida. He has been a consultant and volunteer for the Dade Heritage Trust and was active in restoration of the Cape Florida Lighthouse. Pinky, one of the most famous of the "showbiz" birds at Parrot Jungle and Gardens, cemented the attraction's international fame as a tourist destination with her performance at the 1964 New York World's Fair. A brilliant Moluccan cockatiel, Pinky stole the show and drew huge crowds to the State of Florida exhibit when she rode a tiny bicycle across a highwire from one end of the pavilion to the other. Now more than 60 years old, Pinky still performs her act at the Jungle's Parrot Bowl.
Full of stunning landscape photographs, this tropical gardening book is a delight for anyone interested in the lavish gardens of the Philippines. Aimed at gardening enthusiasts, Tropical Gardens of the Philippines contains a rare glimpse into some of the most beautiful tropical gardens in the world today. It presents 42 spectacular contemporary gardens, both big and small, situated in and around Metropilitan Manila area and the nearby provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite. The vast majority of the gardens are in private homes. Introducing a contemporary gardening style that has been evolving in the Philippines over the past decade, as well as more traditional formal styles, it traces the development of garden design in all its forms. Designers new and old are showcased along with a number of talented home owners. Experimenting with both indigenous and introduced species, use of hardscapes such as local stones and pavers, bonsai, clipped shrubs and water features, some work along Oriental lines, others follow Western models. Tropical Gardens of the Philippines is a lovely introduction to Filipino landscaping styles and a gardening aesthetic that combines the best of East and West with superior knowledge of plant cultivation and care.
Take a trip to exotic South Florida with this dark, funny book that established Carl Hiaasen as one of the top mystery writers in the game. The first sign of trouble is a Shriner's fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the local chamber of commerce president found floating in a canal. The locals are desperate to keep the murders under wraps and the tourist money flowing. But it will take a reporter-turned-private eye to make sense of a caper that mixes football players, politicians, and one very hungry crocodile . . . 'One of the top ten destination reads of all time' - GQ 'Leaves you grinning' - New York Times
