Revisiting My Semi-Sustainable Neighborhood

I took a second trip around my block, but this time I decided to go a few streets in the opposite direction. Although I feel I have gained a further insight into nature from my ecological studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, I failed to see anything truly astounding or sustainable on my walk. Still, there were some occurrences of interest. For instance, this coconut tree, with very large coconuts, pictured below.

I also found several people growing their own lemons or grapefruit, as you can see in these two images.

That's about as far as sustainability goes for my neighborhood. I still have yet to see an all out vegetable garden or fruit orchard, but that doesn't mean that my neighbors do not have an eye for horticulture.

This house (below) had many small trees, such as bonsai trees (lower left). I would be used to seeing bonsai trees in pots, but I rarely see them directly planted in the earth.

Shown at the right was an oddity - a plant growing on a tree. I have seen such symbiosis before on field trips with the University Colloquium class, but this was quite unique, it almost appeared that palm fronds were growing on this large tree (behind the palm). Again, perhaps these leaves were from some sort of small palm or possibly even a banana tree, as I have seen those in the area (though unfortunately none with bananas!).

Here at the left I thought was another interesting use of green design. Perfectly aligned palm trees that reminded one of McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. My neighborhood is located in Cape Coral. These were truly massive and well cared for palms, very beautiful specimens. You could tell that these neighbors were proud of them.

Coming back from a near fruitless (possible pun there!) search for sustainability, at least there is an abundance of houses such as this one which I took a photograph of on my way back home. Here is an example of a house that's practically ensconced in greenery.

Despite a seeming lack of interest in cultivating their own food, the people who inhabit my neighborhood seem to take great pride in their horticultural surroundings. I was also disappointed to find no evidence of solar paneling or even hybrid cars, for that matter. However, there are a fair amount of people growing their own citrus fruits or coconuts. I too would enjoy having these plants at my house.

Recently I have noticed that every Sunday there is a woman selling fruits and vegetables a little further down from where I ventured. I was happy to see that and maybe I will try to participate in her sustainable endeavor and buy my produce from her some day.