Nancy's Secret

Licuala grandis

“Shade…I need shade”. The sweat dripped off the end of my nose as I finished the pix of the Ylang-Ylang tree. Another 50’ down Free School Lane in Key West is shady oasis that goes by the accurate handle of Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden. Just trying to find this place is an adventure all its own. I met 2 of Liz and my favorite house guests, Joey and David for a little plant pix adventure there.

                                               

Cecropia spp.

I have been there 3 times now and this time the garden was looking a bit overgrown as many gardens at the end of the hot, sweltering, tropical, rainy season do. No manicured paths or nifty annuals in soldier-like borders, nope, just massive trees and palms, intertwined jungle aroids climbing trunks to compete with epiphytes for the sun. Whip out the machete, we’re talkin’ rainforest here!

Tree Fern

The Secret Garden is not Fairchild Tropical garden with its impressive acreage nor Marie Selby Garden with its awesome climate controlled plant house. This spot has suffered the ravages of hurricanes, down turn in the economy and the cramped quarters of Old Town Key West but it and Nancy still hang in there.

                                                  

Prichardia spp.

Nancy has operated this 1 acre urban, (if ya can call Key West urban) rainforest on a shoestring budget with a minimum of help for 30 years. There is a “$10 per human” donation box at the entrance, well worth the money if you are a plant affectionado(read geek).

                                            

Alocasia macrorrhiza cultivar"Nancy's Revenge"

So being the plant geek that I am, I was lovin’ it…especially the shade, deep, deep wonderful shade. I am also an Aroid and Palm geek…Oh, I dig Heliconias and Bromeliads, too…and all Epiphytes and…well you get it.

                                              

Cyrtostachys renda

I’m not gonna get into naming the many rare plants here or go crazy with adjectives describing the glories of the foliage. Suffice it to say you will find species here that you may not find elsewhere outside of the aforementioned gardens. I’ll let some of the images speak for themselves.

With my trusty Canon SX 1000 in my sweaty hand I was immediately lost on the labyrinth of pathways that wind under and through the foliage. Coming around a little blind corner I walked smack into a small gray haired woman carrying and huge Blue Macaw on her arm. Backing away from the bird (I’m not really a fan of any bird that can crack walnuts like I crack pea pods) I almost knocked over a cage housing an Amazon Gray. “Dang, these things are everywhere”, and they are. Nancy has rescued a whole mess of Conures, Parrots, Macaws and the like. Good for her, now I know where annual crop of disenchanted Key West wanna-be pirates leave Polly when they head back to suburban Chicago or wherever.

                                       

Philodenron spp.

Joey and David(they do like Parrotish birds)talked bird talk with Nancy for a bit as I played David Fairchild, intrepid 19th century plant explorer and promptly got lost again until I spotted the flash(told ya it is deep shade) of Joey’s Canon Rebel XTI with the Tamron 28-300MM lens( naw, I’m not at all jealous!)

                          

We killed a very pleasant couple of hours until the mundane tasks of real life called and I headed back to Big Pine Key leaving J&D to do the Key West Duval Street crawl among the sun baked cruise ship passengers and pirate wanna-be’s. Better them than me.

                                                 

So if ya ever visit Key Weird take the time to learn a secret…Nancy’s Secret…it’s worth it.