It's a Wrap...Naples Botanical Gardens

This is the boardwalk leading into the Asian Garden and overlooking the River of Grass.  While we were reading one of the informational posters, we heard "crashing" in the grass behind us and spotted an armadillo.  That's only the second one we have seen in our nine years here.

This is a beautiful teak table and benches.

One of several mosaic tile walls along the entrance.

Other interesting items in the Asian Garden but oddly, not many "garden" pictures.

Candi Sukuh

Finally, the orchid garden.  I love taking pictures of orchids, but have no idea why.  I just like the way they turn out, I guess.  The orchid garden at Marie Selby is inside, however, this one is outside and somewhat smaller.  It is currently home to the "Rising Cranes" origami.

Some are big, some are super small but they are all so beautiful!

This was the last sculpture we spotted on our way out.

"Gathering Peace"

I think it's pretty difficult to see what it looks like, so I copied a photo from the website.

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;o)

As Promised...More Naples Botanical Gardens

We walked along the shore of Lake Tupke to the Brazilian Garden, which you can see from this earlier photo...

This is the view looking back from the top.

There is a really nice pool at the top, where the "Master Peace" origami is currently residing.

This sculpture is made up of 500 origami cranes and stands 25 feet tall.  It's very impressive.

There are some pretty cool lily pads floating in the pool, as well.

There is a much better picture of them on the NBG home page.

One of the vines blooming near the pool.

From here, we walked into the Caribbean Garden and found these plantain/bananas "blooming".  We weren't sure which they were and never found anyone to ask.  I'll call them bananas.

I may have seen bananas growing when we were in Jamaica but never this close.  

This Gru-Gru palm tree was in the same area.  It's a palm tree with long thorns that grow along the trunk and they are SHARP!  It's native to the Dominican Republic.

internet photo

The "Balancing Act" was the sculpture we came to next.

So many of the sculptures are white and it was super sunny, which makes them hard to see in the photos.  I'm sure Greg could have taken much better pictures.

Next up...the Succulent Garden and the "Emerging Peace" piece ;o)  haha

In case you can't tell...it' a butterfly.

Wonder how they keep a succulent garden growing in tropical Florida...

"Flying Folds" is located along the path to The South Grove, which contains several smaller gardens, an overlook and a labyrinth, which we somehow missed completely.

The path meandered between Lake Tuple on one side

and this stream/waterfall on the other

until it comes to Lucy's Landing, which overlooks Deep Lake and is home to the sculpture "Folding Planes".

Seems more like UNfolding planes to me.  Bill spotted an alligator on the far side of the lake.

We continued along the shore of Deep Lake, past the "Light Boat" sculpture, to the bathrooms.

I really liked this one!

We followed the path through the Idea Garden and the Enabling Garden back to the South Grove, where we rested our feet.

Cactus blooming in the Idea Garden

From here we could see the blooming African Tulip Tree

internet photo

and this white sculpture, which isn't one of the origami sculptures and I can't remember what it's called.

That's it for now, more to follow.

Thanks for stopping by...

Naples Botanical Garden

This is another venue that has been on our list for several years.  When we saw that there was an origami art exhibit featured in the gardens, we decided this was the year we crossed it off.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our visits to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota and were surprised at how much larger these gardens seemed.  After some research I have learned that the MSBG cover 15 acres, while the NBG cover 170!  No wonder we spent nearly 3 hours there and still missed parts of it.

The first origami was located just inside the entrance...

"Nesting Pair"

The blooming Flame Vine...

A view of the Burle Marx Plaza.  I think this was one of my favorite sections of the gardens.

The Children's Garden...

Splash Pool

There were several of these leaves/fronds in the walkway.

The "Raptor" and "Armijo's Mouse" are two separate origami pieces placed near one another, the raptor overlooking the mouse.  It is called "Who Saw Who?"

The bison...

Small Bison

Large Bison

NO climbing or touching the art!

The butterfly garden...

Zebra butterfly

Shell turtle...

"Mer Princess"

The Hidden Garden...

Apparently one can use just about anything as a flower pot.

We walked along the Uplands Trail and ended up at Lake Tupke.

Ghost Orchid Boardwalk

Lake Tupke

More tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)