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March 5, 1998 - Florida's Showing Its True Colorsgk•;The.Suffolk Times • March 5, 1998,. Florida's Showing Its True Colors We try to sneak in an evening walk down here whenever we can. Florida has had its share of bad weather with its extra amount of rain for this time of the year. We're told by those who should know that during the winter it hardly ever rains: "We get our big rains during the summer." Well, things have changed since El Focus Nino came into the picture: thunder- On storms, rain, wind, cooler- than -nor- Nature mal temperatures and yes, even tor- by Pahl nadoes. So when a Stoutenburgh break in the weath- er came we took our walk under a blanket of stars. We even had crickets calling and I believe we were hearing tree frogs also. Halfway through our walk Barbara stopped and said, "I smell orange blos- soms." I could smell nothing, for my sense of smell could never match hers. She's always the first to sniff the fox that's just passed by. Their odor is somewhat like that of a skunk and quite easily rec- ognized. You'll probably never see that long bushy - tailed mouser; but his scent will let you know he's not too far away. The following morning Barbara's orange blossom smell was verified, for in the back yard of almost every house down here are orange and grapefruit trees along with an occasional banana tree — which really isn't a tree — but more of that later. Sure enough, in back of the house where we are camped out is an orange tree with its small, fragrant, white blossoms. The interesting part about orange blossoms is that they appear while oranges are still on the tree. Quite different than our apple, peach, pear and other blossoms, which are followed by the fruit and then go into their dormant winter stage. The orange blos- som, by the way, is Florida's state flower. Now, back to the misnamed banana "tree." Bananas do not grow on trees at all. The stalks they grow on have no woody body nor do they have any limbs such as we know on trees. Rather it's a giant herb originally introduced into the Americas back in the early 1800s. It has now become common throughout the tropical and semi - tropical Americas. Bananas grow out of a huge purplish bud that is found in the center of the plant. From this bud grow clusters of flowers that eventually droop and turn into minus- cule bananas. We watched this transfor- mation take place right in the back yard here. From tiny, barely recognizable fruit have grown clusters of now - obvious green bananas, about four inches long. Going Bananas Most of the homes in this older re- tirement community have plantings around them to make them more attractive. We sit in a screen - enclosed porch to eat our meals while outside hibiscus of a wide variety delight the eye. Single and double, red, white, orange, yellow and pink — all declare their loveliness. Hibiscus is not a native plant but one from Hawaii and China that has now become so common few recognize it as an introduced plant. Also clinging to the trellis outside are rous plant) or perhaps we'd travel to Montauk to hike the walking dunes, where he'd seek out the white - fringed orchid, or perhaps the pine barrens, where the red fruit of the bearberry would catch his eye. Once he found his subject in that special location, he'd go about meticu- lously setting up his camera. Then it would be "Move it a little to the left, go down a little, take the leaf out of the way, wait for the sun to move a little bit more." Then, under a black cloth he'd peer through the back of the big old camera to take another look. Nothing was done quickly and snapshot when it came to pho- tographing his be- loved wildflowers. Like Roy Latham, Vinton was little appreciated in his time, mainly because he was one of those rare people who kept to himself and lived in his own special world. His pho- tographs of wild- flowers appeared on the covers and amongst the pages of some of the most prestigious flower books of the day, some of which found their way into the White House. Much of my appreciation of wildflowers and their wonder came from traveling with Vinton those many years ago. Barbara and I have been in Florida on and off for over four months now and we have seen winter come and go and now spring is taking over this semitropical area. Deciduous trees are now coming into leaf. The roadside farmstands have "U- pick" signs out for. strawberries and tomatoes and, what with all the extra rain we've had, things look greener day by day. consumed in the states alone. Like the Florida tomato that's picked green and shipped north to ripen, bananas are also picked green and shipped in special refrigerated cool- ers, where most are then treated with a special gas to help them ripen for the market. The banana stalks are used only once. As soon as the ba- nanas are harvest- ed, the plant is cut down to the ground and new shoots and plants are encour- aged. As with most fruits, the plants are pruned to a strong central stem for the next year's crop. The leaf of the banana plant is truly quite beautiful, looking much like a long, drooping green feather, some growing to 10 feet in length. In some of the more rural parts of South America and Mexico the leaves are woven into baskets, mats and bags. They are even used to wrap and cook food in. The natural nutrition and good taste of the banana has made it one of the world's truly preferred tropical fruits. Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh WATER HYACINTH —This beautiful soft blue flower is the blossom of the insidious invader that has taken over many of the waterways in the south. We are lucky it is killed by frost; otherwise we might be in the same predicament as those in the south with this invasive pest taking over our freshwater areas. ■ _a!— —2– A - -2– nat a Uuun paean 75 Years Ago March 2, 1923 Plates for L.I. Drivers: It is estimated that many thousands of Long Island motorists tour other parts during the year with nothing more to show their identity than the New York State license plates. A novelty was introduced some years ago in the use of pennants to show where the tourist hailed from, but this has since died out. An improvement on this idea has just been launched by the Long Island Association in the adoption of a beautifully decorated colored plate, which is three inches deep and a width to correspond with the number plate. Holes are provided by which this may be attached to the license plate. The coloring is red and yellow, and the wording on the plate will do much to advertise Long Island and the Sunrise Trail, as well as identify the home station of the owner. This plate will be on sale at the important garages on Long Island, or will be mailed upon receipt of 50 cents by the Long Island Association, 334 Fifth Ave., New York City. 50 Years Ago March 5, 1948 Orient News: A few weeks ago an "old Bible" contest was put on by the Farm Hour program by the National Broadcasting Station WNBC, Radio City, by Tom Pages and Wally Butterworth, who have been running this program for the small yellow jessamine flowers that one day seemed to burst into bloom. How lushly they grow. I remember one of Orient's great, Vinton Richards, who spent much of his spare time pho- tographing wildflowers and on a rare trip to the south he brought glowing photos and descriptions of the yellow jessamine. He was a master photographer from the old school, using an ancient 4x5 Graphlex -type camera that he mounted on a sturdy tripod. I'd often accompany him on his flower - hunting expeditions. One day he'd be in the Riverhead Cranberry Bog photographing sundews (a camivo- many years. They desired the three oldest Bibles from any- where and in any language. Mrs. Lucy Luce sent a card to them informing them of her old "Bishop's" Bible of 1575. Mr. Butterworth telephoned Mrs. Luce last Tuesday telling her that her Bible had won third prize, a portable radio set, out of the 2,000 Bibles entered in the contest. It is supposed that the Bible owned by Mrs. Luce was brought to this coun- try in 1639 and was taken to Boston, where it was bought by William Taylor from J. Goddard in 1712, then it came to Orient and was owned by four of the descendants of Noah Tuthill. 25 Years Ago March 1, 1973 Moores Woods in Top 10: The Moores Woods Nature Study area has been chosen as one of 10 top environ- mental projects in the country and its 56 Greenport High School students cited by President Nixon for their work in turning a former dumping ground into an ecological sanctuary. Earth science teacher Charles Jantzen, who guided the stu- dents in the year -long project, was notified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday that the project had been named. Included were 56 citations signed by President Nixon for the students' efforts to improve the envi- ronment. Agency officials will be coming to Greenport to visit Moores Woods and to confer special awards on adults who assisted in the project. Water Hyacinth Invades I've often mentioned the drainage ditches along the sides of the toad down here. They serve a dual purpose. The first was to help supply fill for the road when it was being built and secondly, and proba- bly more importantly, they were dug to drain off the excess water from the land. The ditches work well as long as they don't clog up. The main culprit of this clogging is the water hyacinth. Everything seems to grow like mad down here, espe- cially this pesky water plant. Twice since we've been here the highway crews have moved in with their heavy equipment to remove the heavy matted growth from these blocked -up drainage areas and place it in four - foot -high piles every 20 feet or so along the edge of the highway. It is something like our phragmites, being of little use to wildlife, and in its takeover it pushes out the more desirable native plants. A native to tropical America, it has invaded the natural habitat much like the introduced house sparrow that has invaded our native bird population. its only attribute is the purplish flower that is quite beautiful during the blossoming months of November and December. And so, another week has passed by and in the future we should be heading for the beaches and some of Florida's other natural areas in hopes of sharing them with you.