CFPACS - 10/20/2019 - Part II - Edison and Ford Winter Estates - Fort Myers, FL

[kinzyjr]

The second portion of the fall meeting took place at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Myers, FL.  The properties house a wide variety of palms, cycads, bamboos, and other gems.  Several of the plants are either the largest or nearly the largest either regionally or globally.

Royal palms as you approach the entrance on McGregor Ave.

The crosswalk and entrance to the estates:

An enormous banyan tree.  The gentleman taking a picture in front of the tree is 6 feet tall.

A statue of Edison by the Banyan tree.

A sign detailing the size of the Banyan.

A palm garden recently put in by the parking lot with bottles, spindles, etc.

One of my personal favorites... the Kapok tree:

A path straight to the dock:

An Arenga engleri.  The staff complained that even the fragrance of the flowers would cause irritation.  Usually handling the fruit is the issue.

Beccariophoenix fenestralis:

The largest Archontophoenix alexandrae (middle):

Thrinax radiata:

Moon garden:

Believe it or not, this is not a palm...

[kinzyjr]

A pool with bananas and coconuts as the backdrop:

Lots of stuff was in seed...

The path to the dock:

Pretty much my idea of paradise.  A bench, a coconut palm, and a breeze over the water:

The cycad gardens were full of goodies.  I think they were trying to figure out if it would fit in the back of a full-sized pickup truck...  

More cycads:

A very large Hyphaene coriacea

Crotons and other palm companions:

The new de facto grass for Florida - Bismarckia grass.  You can see all of the seedlings growing up around their parent plants.

A Mysore over 100 feet tall:

[kinzyjr]

Front view of the house:

The view looking north:

The path along the back of the house:

The back porch:

Another shot of the back:

Garage:

[HtownPalms]

What an great looking place!

[Jeff Searle]

Nice pictures, thanks for posting. And for those of you that live near this museum, a reminder that there will be an upcoming plant sale on the 4th weekend of November. It's on the 23rd and 24th. We will be bringing a large collection of rare and exotic palms for sale. Hope to see many of you drop by.

[bubba]

Still like picturing Henry Ford crawling back to his nearby house after the ladies left early at loud dinner parties and Ford and Edison got in their cups! That dock is where Edison pretended like he was fishing by himself and the guy was meditating. That is where he said he got his best ideas. Stellar place!

[piping plovers]

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• The cycad gardens were full of goodies.  I think they were trying to figure out if it would fit in the back of a full-sized pickup truck...  

Love the comment, made me laugh!!  Those cycads just amazing.  I don't know if they technically are Jurassic, but they just look like they would be part of a Jurassic setting.  Great pics!

Edited March 18, 2020 by piping plovers
typed too fast