We met Skink. We actually, truly met the living breathing Skink, straight from the pages of a Carl Hiaasen novel. ...more

November 22, 2009

For the early Seminole Indians, the sabal palm was an all-in-one home improvement store-supermarket-pharmacy. ...more

July 25, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Anne Reynolds, a white-haired lady in her 60s, speaks softly when asked about the younger version of her painted on a downtown Lake Placid mural. "That's me, 1966, when shortly after arriving as Charles Reynolds' bride, I was elected the first president of the Lake Placid Arts and Crafts Fair." Reynolds' home, a two-storied, New Orleans style red brick with black, wrought iron balconies, perches on a high bluff, Bear Point, offering a panoramic view of what used to be Lake Childs, now Lake Placid. The 12-acre property boasts heavily mossed, native-Florida trees and foliage. A golf cart ride downhill leads to a rectangular, green building, once a garage, now a lab. David Butler, archaeologist and professor at Rollins College, comes here, often bringing students, and studies findings from the Blueberry site — more about that later. The samples are sealed in labeled, plastic bags and piled around the musty, somewhat mystical room. ...more

July 6, 2008

It's the Bruce Willis of botanical bullies. You can cut it, burn it, poison it. It just keeps coming back. ...more

June 11, 2008

Pat and Shirley Miketinac don't live off the land. They live in it. ...more

June 4, 2008

SEBRING — No-nonsense and fair dealing has always been the mantra of Yarbrough Tire, and Danny Yarbrough hasn't let the hard work of his father and grandfather in building one of the oldest and most respected businesses in Highlands County go by the wayside. Danny was eight-years-old when his father Floyd bought the business from his father and changed the name to Yarbrough Tire, watching his father work non-stop as a hardware salesman and in the tire shop. ...more

May 18, 2008

The berry-colored buds looked ready to burst. Bob Fuchs tried peeling open the petals, but the hybrid orchid refused to be coaxed into bloom. ...more

January 22, 2008

Alligators are common at Florida wildlife attractions, but Lowry Park Zoo has started work on a unique way of showcasing the state's signature reptile. ...more

January 4, 2008

TAMPA - Alligators are common at Florida wildlife attractions, but Lowry Park Zoo has started work on a unique way of showcasing the state's signature reptile. A $1.5 million zoo expansion will house a pair of rare albino American alligators and a water flume ride called "Gator Falls." ...more

January 3, 2008