Hazeltine 12th Annual Fall Festival

The 12th Annual Fall Festival took place last week at Hazeltine Nurseries and it was a smashing success!  Activities began on Thursday and continued through Saturday and included a variety of speakers and events.  Florida Master Gardeners were on hand to answer questions, a citrus expert, a butterfly garden expert provided crowds with information on those topics.  In house speakers included Stephen Hazeltine, (owner) who engaged crowds with a talk on Outdoor Rooms, Tyler Rubley speaking on Right Plant, Right
Place and a great talk from our maintenance department.

Our large greenhouse was decked out with pumpkins, orchids, bromeliads and palms adding to the festive spirit of the occasion, we even had a great Chicago style hot dog truck that offered delicious fare including polish sausage, Italian beef and chili dogs a great respite form my normal cold lunch.

Sharon sure knows how to please the lunch crowd, yum...yum.


The nursery is full and the stock is looking great, in Florida as in many parts of the country Fall is a great time for planting.  Snowbirds are on the wing in SW FL and Hazeltine is ready with a great selection of plants and pottery.





Sales are going well for me, my bigger current job is beginning to take shape, the pond is nearly complete, the pavilion is scheduled to start next week and the pavers are sitting on the dock ready to ship out of Arcadia next week.

This is one of the two cabbage palms being removed from a job I designed in Venice, the palms were removed to make room for the hardwood Flamboyant Tree that will eventually fill the yard with beautiful red blooms.  The men make short work of the tasks at hand installing jobs as fast as I can sell them.

If you follow my blog you know I chased Sandhill Cranes on my IN property trying to capture them on film for many years, in this part of FL they are common as lizards but I still find them fascinating, they are so used to people down here that they do not flee when pedestrians stroll past.

What a fabulous creature, their
vocalizations seem to be less in this
urban environment, I guess they do not feel the alarm or fear predation as
they do in more rural areas.












I was out measuring a paver job in Sarasota this week and the potential customer certainly had a green thumb, this gorgeous Staghorn Fern was one of three strung in the trees, a plant your will certainly find strung from a tree in my yard once I landscape.  This one was an exceptional in size and owners had it displayed front and center of their yard.

The first job I sold three months ago was to a sweet, retired school teacher residing about three miles from our shop, I am now bidding another job in her development so I was able to photograph our installation, I must say it looks good.  On of the objects was to hide the electrical box and these varigated
Scheffelara did the trick.  The boulders also provided homeowner Jodie with a great spot for her Halloween pumpkins.

The tropical foliage and exciting new plant pallet is a welcome change from my 30 years of landscaping in NE IN, the opportunity to just design and sell is also a welcome change from the all encompassing challenge of owning your own business.  I admit to missing the personal freedom but the last 90 days has been full of learning and excitement for me.

A Step in the Right Direction

This pair of sandhill cranes has been about on our property much of the summer.  On this occasion the handsome couple danced and flirted with each other for several minutes.

We are nearly complete with the hard scape on this project out on Clear Lake.  The bottom step in this photo is one of the original I designed a new sidewalk and we needed to remove the top four steps and build new ones.  At first I thought we would have to have a mason construct the new stairs but once we tore out the old ones it became apparent that we could build the new ones.  The steps are actually only a poured cap right on top of soil with glacial stones set in.  The second white step is the first one we built with a mixture of concrete, it was our prototype.  We were not happy with the color so we changed it up for the next three steps.  Since this photo we have since removed the second step and will be constructing  a new one to match.  Actually it was fortuitous since the builder discovered a moisture problem and will be addressing the issue right where this step was sitting.

The new sidewalk and patio at the lakeside are nearly complete and Gary is working diligently on the road side paver walk, what a great improvement.

I took the dogs (Finn and Munch) out to check the jobs last week and we stopped at Wendy's for a burger hold the condiments, hold the bun, man that was a small piece of meat but the dogs did not seem to mind.

Over the labor day weekend we went to Fort Wayne to watch the semi-pro baseball team, The Tincaps play at Parkview Field, an all together pleasurable outing with good food, drinks and friends.  The fireworks were a bonus.

I snapped this fisherman on Crooked lake last week, it was a beautiful, calm morning with a bright shining sun.

We are on the last leg of our seasonal journey with about three months to go.  There are still lots of projects at the nursery landscaping, buildings to finish and the grand lay out to be determined what an exciting year.

Sandhill Cranes

Wildlife is another of my passions, while in college I was headed toward a degree in ethology (animal behavior) but circumstance changed my major.  I am always excited to observe, photograph and commune with animals so I was especially pleased when I found out that less than an hour north from my home is a Sandhill Crane migration route where people can view these great birds for a few days each October.  The location is near Battle Creek, MI at park made possible by local Kiwanas club.  It is a wonderful experience and I would recommend everyone who loves nature see this site.

Sandhill Cranes Cruising with Colt

Coming across these sandhill cranes made my day.  One of the better parts of living here is the ability to commune with nature.