So Many Dishes

In Florida, the rainy season starts in mid-May, and usually runs through the middle of October. We’ve had an unusually dry rainy season until the last three weeks or so. Now, it seems as if we’re trying to make up for it all at once.

I frankly didn’t know if I’d have a new photo for today’s post. I had planned to spend yesterday morning at the botanical garden, but I got rained out. According to last evening’s local news, we’d had more than five inches of rain in Wellington in 24 hours. The forecast was for more rain today, and things did not look promising when we got up this morning.

Then the sun came out, and we shot out the door for a walk. Our route took us through a park that I’ve featured before, but with a difference today.

There is a large cypress stand in the park, and we tend to see these trees in low areas, as they can tolerate “wet feet.” There was a lot of standing water in the park, and the area had temporarily reverted to a cypress swamp.

Plant geek that I am, I think this is a beautiful landscape. A young couple we met, whose house backs onto the park, were less enthusiastic. The water has brought out the frogs, who croaked all night. They definitely hope it will dry up quickly.

Only a few of these trees have “knees,” a characteristic of cypress, woody projections that stick up near the base of the tree. They are often referred to as pneumatophores, with the presumption that they help get oxygen to the roots. However, according to the best source I know, Landscape Plants for South Florida by George K. Rogers, that theory doesn’t hold up. The structure of the knees isn’t conducive to gas exchange. He lists some other theories, but shoots holes in all of them. He speculates that they may serve no purpose at all.

I’m just glad we took this route and saw this beautiful scene this morning, because it’s raining again.