I never really liked mangos (also spelled mangoes) until a friend brought us a bag of Merritt Island mangos several years ago and now every year around mid July we go on the hunt for those delicious treats right from our very own Merritt Island. Jean and I love mangos and honestly, we have never tasted anything like the ones that come from Merritt Island in South Brevard County Florida. We think they are, without a doubt,  the best in the world.

Of course we haven’t eaten every mango variety in the world, but we buy them all the time from Publix, Walmart or any of the local produce stands around our area and we haven’t tasted anything like what we’ve found that comes from right along Tropical Trail on the Island.

Many mango varieties (some sites claim there are some 2,000 or more) can be quite fibrous and even some of the better ones have a slight amount of fiber. You almost know immediately when you slice into a mango how it sounds as to the amount of fiber in it. But we have found a variety that are almost like slicing into butter when you cut them open and they are the sweetest mangos I think we have ever tasted. The variety is known as the Keitt mango and it is the best of the best.

Eating a Merritt Island mango is almost like drinking a fine wine and trying to figure out all the flavors you are experiencing. The taste of this exotic fruit (it’s not actually exotic in most of the world) is something like a cross between a coconut, a banana and a mango (duh) with a slight hint of pineapple in it. The reason I say it is not exotic in most of the world is that the mango is the number one most popular fruit in the world, even more popular than bananas and apples. I suppose that’s because mangos originate from India and with a population that is almost 4 times that of the United States, no wonder they are popular.

These particular mangoes pictured here are from a produce stand right in Satellite Beach on South Patrick Drive, aptly named South Patrick Produce and this is the second year in a row we’ve purchased out Merritt Island mangos from this vendor. The stand is located right on the northwest corner of South Patrick and Banana Rive Drive.

Don’t miss the mango season here in Brevard county Florida that runs from July till late September or early October. I don’t know exactly what it is that makes Merritt Island mangos so sweet and delicious, but you have never experienced a mango, until you’ve had one from Merritt Island Florida. Make sure you ask wherever you buy them if they are mangos from Merritt Island.

Melbourne Florida may hold the record for having the largest staghorn fern in the world. While it may not be official, I’ve scoured the internet for pictures and have yet to come up with one as large as the one at the Rossetter House and Museum. As you can see from the pictures here, this is one giant staghorn fern.

The plant is in the garden at the Rossetter house on the northeastern side of the home and we even made a second trip out to the Melbourne historical landmark to get additional pictures. Many times when people take pictures of their staghorn ferns they don’t stand near them or put anything near it so as to be able to judge their size. However, we went back to the house to get some more pictures than what we got on our first visit and had my wife Jean stand next to it so you can see exactly how big this thing is.

It used to be on the branch of the tree you see it next to, but a few years ago the branch could no longer support it so it was placed on a stack of cement blocks that now hold it up. We had to be careful measuring it so as not to break any branches, but as far as we could tell it is probably 10 feet wide from branch tip to branch tip at its largest width and is about 5 to 6 feet tall if it were sitting on the ground.

While I don’t think there’s an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records and no one is officially keeping records this one has to be close if not the largest staghorn fern in the world. I’ve never seen anything like it. If you know of another one that is as large, please leave a comment and a link. You can see this staghorn fern in Melbourne at the Rossetter House for free. You do not have to pay admission to the home to walk through the gardens. Any time the home is open for business, you can see the gardens.

See additional staghorn fern photos here and staghorn ferns for sale.

Enjoy some additional photos of this huge staghorn fern below:

A view from the side:

You may have seen their beautiful purple to lavender blossoms in a few select locations around the Melbourne and Palm Bay areas as they stand out amongst the other surrounding greenery. I’m referring to the rare jacaranda tree that is a native of South America, but does grow in a few areas in the United States.

As far as we know, there are just a very few locations of these exceptional trees in the Melbourne area. While there are probably a few more jacaranda trees locally with one or two on the beachside, the 2 most prominent ones are located on Dairy Road in West Melbourne (there are actually 2 trees next to each other in this location) about a mile south of 192 on the east side of the road and on Eau Gallie Blvd about a mile north of the intersection of Wickham Road and Eau Gallie Blvd. The second example is on the north side of Eau Gallie Blvd.

Full size adult trees can range in size from 15 to 50 feet tall and the deeply saturated lavender and purple blossoms can last for up to 2 months. They are called the blue jacaranda, but the blossoms are more purple to lavender colored.  The striking beauty of the tree is quite noticeable as the entire canopy of branches is covered in blossoms and stands in stark contrast to all other foliage in the surrounding area. Jacaranda trees in California can bloom twice in the same year, once in the spring and once in the fall while in Florida and most other locations they bloom only once a year.

Unfortunately, the two trees pictured here have already reached their full peak and may not even be blossoming by the time you read this. But at least next year you will be ready by the time April rolls around to go hunting for the few know Jacaranda tree examples in the Melbourne area.

Enjoy some additional pictures of the Jacaranda below:

Unfortunately this tree is surrounded by power lines so it was hard to get a clear picture of it.

A close up of the jacaranda blossoms:

This is a guest post from Jean LeStourgeon. It’s true, the best things in life are free. The best things in life are the things money can’t buy – things like a cool breeze, sunshine sparkling on the ocean, time spent with bosom buddies, deep blue skies, powder puff clouds, stars twinkling on a backdrop of velvet night, rainbows gracing the sky after a late afternoon rain shower, the glory of God displayed in the rising sun, a harvest moon hanging over the tree tops, warm hugs from dear old souls, and sweet luscious mulberry’s hanging heavy on the branch, ripe for the picking.

Today was one of those days in Palm Bay Florida. The kind that just makes you feel rich and totally content…like you can forget for a moment all that’s going on in the world that you would just as soon forget anyway. I was already walking down my driveway, about to take a walk, in the cool, sunshiny spring afternoon and suddenly remembered my neighbor Janet’s invitation. “Feel free to pick mulberries from my tree on the side of the house…it’s loaded.” Quickly, I ran inside, grabbed me a metal bowl, and jogged over  to her house.

Turning the corner to her side yard, I saw it. The mulberry tree stood broad and tall. Its branches were hanging over the street, bending close to the ground. Each willowy limb was laden with berries, tucked under graceful green leaves, just asking to be found and picked. Moving easily from one branch to the next, plucking the lowest hanging fruit first – plump, juicy, black and most of all sugary sweet – I happily filled my bowl. After about 15 minutes of picking – fingers dyed with the violet-red juices, sneaker treads filled with reminders of where I had been, quart size bowl filled to the brim with picture perfect sweetness wrapped up in black jeweled delights – I was in heaven.

The blessing of a mere 15 minute harvest brought me back to blissful summer days growing up in Maine. The anticipation of waiting on the variety of fruit to come in – each had its own short season. Heading up the summer parade of nature’s delights was the wild alpine strawberries that signaled in June “summer is finally here”. Marching 6 weeks or so behind the tiny sweet strawberries were the delicate and soft red raspberries I loved so much. They came into their own in the mid summer month of July. Every summer my mum would tell me the story of how she went into labor with me a few days after picking raspberries on our new property in Bangor in the heat of the summer. I do believe her story encouraged my love for these precious berries. Finally the prized blueberry would bring up the rear ready to be raked or picked in late August. This grand summer finale was worth the wait.

Oh, it is true, the best things in life cannot be purchase, but they can be shared by generous neighbors out of the abundance of their blessings.

We can’t tell you exactly where these beautiful Palm Bay Florida mulberries are because our neighbor’s yard might be overrun, but look around, there may be some in your neighborhood.

The weather here in Palm Bay at the beginning of October 2010 has been fantastic and this Saturday was a great day to paint a rain barrel that had been already prepared with a coat of primer and 2 coats of paint nearly the color of our house. This particular rain barrel will be placed in the front of the house, being filled with runoff from the gutters, and we thought it best to tone down the bright blue color of the barrel we got from Shonk Enterprises located in Melbourne.

I decided to have a little fun and paint some grass and flowers on the barrel to make it blend in a bit with the plants we have at the front of our home. We wanted to somewhat camouflage the barrel so we decided on painting it as close to the color of our house as we could find in a spray and then put some kind of garden design on it.

What you need to get started is a food grade plastic barrel that has been cleaned from food residue and we found these at the previously mentioned Shonk Enterprises for, I believe the price was $35. If you want the top removed and a removable metal clasp to lock the top on, it’s another $10. After the initial primer coat for plastic and two coats of color, and that’s after removing the top with a jig saw and installing a 3/4 inch water spigot about 4 inches from the bottom a few weeks ago, the project this morning began with drilling 15/16 inch hole near the top and installing an overflow valve as seen below.

After the overflow valve was installed came the job of painting the design. If you Google “rain barrel art” and look at the images you will see some great designs. So I just picked one, printed it out and used it for reference as I painted away. I used cheap acrylic craft paint for indoor and outdoor use and a couple of craft brushes purchased at Michaels over at Hammock Landing to do the job.

The painting goes pretty quick once you get the hang of how to paint the flower petals and grass and you’ll be done before you know it. I decided to paint a little lizard crawling up the barrel (see the top photo) at the last minute and just found a pic of a lizard face painting and tried to approximate that. Below are a couple more pics of the first stages and the final product.

The complete list of materials you need to paint a plastic rain barrel is below:

55 gallon food grade poly barrel
Spray primer for plastic (light sand before applying and use 2 coats)
Any color of your choice spray paint that can be used on plastic
3/4 inch metal or plastic water spigot
3/4 inch metal or plastic overflow valve (can be larger, but I didn’t have larger drill bit)
Drill
15/16 inch drill bit
Silicone sealant to put on threads and around hole after installing spigot and valve
Short hose for overflow valve (optional)
Acrylic craft paint
Assorted craft brushes
Clear polyurethane spray for final 2 to 3 coats to protect finish
Oh yea, don’t forget your creative thinking cap!

You will also need a rain gutter diverter, some kind of screen (to keep bugs and leaves out) and bungee chords which you can find at Home Depot or Lowes. Have fun painting your own rain barrel and conserve a little water while your at it.

Nothing brings your yard into focus more than garden lighting in the evenings. What a nice touch lighting will bring to your outdoor spaces, walkways, rock gardens and more.

If you have noticed your neighbors or the hotel when you may have taken your next vacation and there was beautiful lighting on the paths around the hotel property.

Shop below for hanging lamps, garden markers, solar lighting and even some very unique solar powered, lighted stepping stones. I’ll bet there aren’t too many people in the neighborhood that have those.

Click on your selections below:

Aurora Solar Light – 4 PackThe Aurora Solar Light (4 pack) is a solar powered rechargeable light that gives an ambient glow for mood lighting of borders, paths, patios and driv… more	Carriage Light with Shepherd’s Crook – Single PackThe Carriage Light with Shepard’s Crook (Single pack) displays lantern style solar lights on a shepherd’s crook style stake. They are ideal to use alo… more
Carriage Light with Shepherd’s Crook – Twin PackThe Carriage Light with Shepard’s Crook (Twin pack) displays lantern style solar lights on a shepherd’s crook style stake. They are ideal to use along… more	Multi Solar Lights – 10 PackThe Multi-Solar Lights (10 Pack) will accent your garden with solar powered lights that can be positioned almost anywhere in the garden. Solar panel r… more
Orbis Stainless Steel Solar Light – 4 PackThe Orbis Stainless Steel Solar Light (4 pack) is made from stainless steel. These lights are contemporary looking and functional. They light up a pat… more	Orion Stainless Steel Solar Light – 4 PackThe Orion Stainless Steel Solar Light (4 pack) offers contemporary styling and superb quality. They are perfect for mood lighting of borders, paths an… more
Solar Marker Lights Two-PackSimply push the stake into the ground and you’re ready to go. Two way switch for a flashing or steady light. Solar panel on top. Photo cell for automa… more	Solar-Powered Stepping StonesSolar powered stones enhance and illuminate your pathway. Even better than their beauty, is the easy set up. There isn’t any! No wiring needed because… more

Garden fountains are becoming one of the most popular additions to yard decor in recent years. Adding a fountain to your garden helps bring a sense of peace and tranquility to your personal space. As water trickles out of a fountain it helps to drown out unwanted background noise and bring peacefulness to your garden.

There are many different styles and materials the fountains can be made of like copper fountains, stone, cast stone, clay and even wooden barrels. Add serenity to your garden with a unique garden fountain.

These beautiful garden accents are available at places such as Lowe’s and Home Depot and many landscaping and independent nurseries and garden shops.

Home For Sale In Florida
This new home in Palm Bay Florida is convenient to shopping, I-95 and has some great amenities.

Brevard County MLS
The Brevard County MLS is a great way to check on properties available anywhere in Brevard County. Find out more about how to use this valuable tool.