Bonaventure Oak Trees

BY SKEETER

I left my Georgia Gardens for a few days of R & R (Rest and Relaxation) last week. One of my favorite get-a-ways is Savannah, Georgia. My last overnight visit to this fun city was back in 2009 when I talked about the Bonaventure Cemetery. Click HERE to see. Being so close to this wonderful city, (3.5 hours) we should get there more often then we do.

I enjoy visiting the Bonaventure Cemetery. The History alone is worth the visit. Click HERE to learn more. It's stately Live Oak Trees are covered with Spanish Moss found throughout the cemetery.

The trees are magnificent sculptors of nature. Standing tall and hundreds of years old, they have seen a lot. The Live Oaks at Bonaventure Cemetery (once a Plantation) were put on the Georgia Landmark and Historic Tree Register in 2004. Click HERE to see more. 

 Spanish Moss drapes most trees Old and Young within the grounds. Click HERE to learn about this Moss.

Wildflowers can be spotted as one strolls about.

I was happy to see this sign and was looking for the "Garden" portion from this sign.

As you can see, the
Water Pumps remain but I could only see few signs of a garden from long ago.

Garden beauties such as Hydrangea are seen as one lingers about.

Some interesting blooms too. A Hibiscus maybe?

Gulf Fritillary and Yellow Butterflies were fluttering all over this Cemetery. Telling me, there's plenty of nectar for them to enjoy. There were so many Fritillary's that I first thought I was in the middle of a Migration of the Monarch Butterflies. This one above was kind enough to stop for a picture on a large Lantana Bush.

This is a view I did not expect to see in the Cemetery. But being on the coast, these palm trees did not surprise me. Even though, I was in a Cemetery, scenes such as this put smiles on my face.

Sago Palms were scattered about as well.

This wall caught my eye. Looks as if old stones were reused to make a wall. This gave me inspiration.

I could only salivate for this bench. I have never seen one so ornate. It has been there so long that the legs are starting to fade below the soil. I wanted to remove the sandy soil but decided I should leave well enough alone. After all, this Cemetery is protected by the City and I did not want to have to explain that I was not going to steal it but rather show its beauty. The Saint was happy I walked away.

I spotted flowers on many grave markers as well as animals, angels, etc. I shall show you more of these markers on Thursday. I must first weed through tons of pictures I snapped. I just love the BONAVENTURE OAK TREES, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Jekyll Island the TREES

This will be part 1 of a 3 part series on Jekyll Island. Today we will talk about the trees, so here we go....

Living where we do here in Georgia has two great advantages. One, we are about 2 and 1/2 hours drive from the GA mountains. Second, we are about 2 and 1/2 hours drive to the GA coast! We don't get to the mountains or the coast nearly enough. We were reminded of that with our first recent trip to Jekyll Island.


Lets take a look at this Georgia State Park... (click on the underlined to learn more about Jekyll island)
Jekyll Island is one of a cluster of small barrier islands know as the Golden Isles of Georgia, (click on the underlined to see the other isles) It is about 9 miles long and 1 and 1/2 miles wide. The island is gourd shaped and has 10 miles of beach. Once, known as an Indian hunting and fishing ground and the waters a Pirate stronghold, held by none other then Blackbeard himself. Legend says his dagger is stuck in a oak tree pointing in the direction of hidden treasures. The great trees on this island should be among Georgia's Seven Natural Wonders . (click on the underlined to see the 7 wonders)

Lets look at those natural wonders called oak trees. I was not expecting to see such magnificent trees and this is truly a wonder to the eye. The trees are full of Spanish moss and that seems fitting since Spain Occupied this island from 1566-1686.

Click on the video to see the moss blowing in the wind.



The largest and oldest Oak on the island is the Plantation Oak and is estimated at being 350-400 years old! It is over 7 feet in diameter, measures 128 feet limb to limb, has a girth of 23 feet and a height of 112 feet. I don't believe this is the oak pictured but it could be as it was huge! Look at how the branches lay on the ground.

The Live Oak is Georgia's state tree.

These moss filled trees are all over the island. I found myself looking upward more so then eye level for most of our weekend visit.

It is so tempting to grab a hand full of the moss but we must remember two things here. One, moss is home to those little red bugs that will bite the fire out of your body and leave itchy whelps. And two, this is a State Park so everything must remain as you see it. You can pick up sea shells but that is all... I could not get my fill of the beauty from the trees. I did not know that oak trees could survive on the salt water but I should have known from my visits to Savannah and Charleston, SC as they are full of them as well.
A lot of the trees were covered with the Resurrection Fern (click on the underlined to learn more about the fern) that I have mentioned in the past. Just look at it growing happily along the tree trunks. Here is a close-up of the fern. I have a small clump growing on one of my trees and I wonder if it will ever get this thick? Maybe in 300 years, ha...

What is an island with out getting on the beach? The clouds started to roll in but it did not stop us from hunting seashells along the soft white seashore. Notice how tourist season is over? An empty beach is our kind of getaway!
The Saint lived in Hawaii for 4 years so the ocean does not impress him much anymore. But he admitted, he was very impressed with this natural state park.
We strolled along and picked up what few shells we found. Sorry Tina, if you were wanting to do a project with your requested shells, it will be a small project as we found only a few. I will pass them along to you on our next visit!
Tomorrow I will show you more of this beautiful island that the American elite of 1886-1947 once called their winter homes... Just wait until you see the "cottages" and other scenery on JEKYLL ISLAND...