The Jungle Gardens of Avery Island

December 26, 2009.

1. The Founder

"In Louisiana, hard by the point where the sweeping curve of the Gulf of Mexico reaches the northern-most point of its arc there is a plug of salt that is eight miles (12.9 km) deep and, at its tip, is narrowed to a circumference of some six miles (9.6km).

Only the uppermost tip of that mountain of salt projects beyond the level of the reed-grown tide marshes through which it is thrust, with a skim of top soil to clothe it, and to form an "island" of high, firm ground that dominates the surrounding marshlands: Avery Island. Hundreds of acres of the soil that covers this mountain of salt are each year grown to the hottest peppers that ever came out of Old Mexico.

These two products - the salt that is mined from beneath the earth through a shaft 530 feet (161 m) deep, and the pepper that is harvested from the soil above it - constitute a foundation of a fortune which through many years have been devoted to the development of the most remarkable garden anywhere to be found, a garden whose cultivated and landscaped portion is more than 150 acres (60.7 hectares) in extent.

Though undeniably impressive, mere size is no measure of beauty. But for over 40 years this particular landscape had been molded to splendor by the talent and the imagination of Edward Avery McIlhenny whose home on Mayward Hill, is the focal point of the Avery Island gardens it overlooks. Today, it stands as a perpetual monument to him. To understand what happened to that pepper grown salt plug you should have known E. A. McIlhenny, the M'sieu Ned of all that countryside.

Mr. McIlhenny was an explorer, writer, business executive, naturalist, conservationist and a half a dozen of other "ists". He was the author of many books on nature, he bred hundreds of new varieties of plants; he saved the snowy egret from extinction at the hands of the plume hunters; he manufactured Tabasco sauce." (Quoted from the leaflet of The Jungle Gardens of Avery Island that's handed out to the visitors)

The house of E. A. McIlhenny,

the son of Edmund McIlhenny the founder of McIlhenny Co.

A private road in the Jungle Gardens going towards Ned's house.

2. The Live Oaks and Spanish Moss

3. The Bamboo Collection

4. Japanese Garden

5. Camelias and others

6. The Bird City

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

A Trip to Avery Island, Louisiana - Tabasco Factory

December 26, 2009.

www.tabasco.com

We spent Christmas in Louisiana with our family and we made a trip to Avery Island to visit the legendary Tabasco hot sauce factory and mainly the Jungle Gardens which was first established by Edward Avery McIlhenny, the second son of the founder of McIlhenny company, Edmund McIlhenny. Here's some highlights of the trip in part one.

The signature logo of McIlhenny company with its renowned Tabasco sauce directs us to the factory and Country Store with a palmetto plant on its side, one of the most common tropical plants in the area. The whole place is seated on top of a very large salt dome of Avery Island which salt is mined and used in the process of sauce making.

The one and only Tabasco sauce factory where fermented tabasco pepper is mixed with vinegar and stirred for 28 continuous days, then bottled, labeled in many different languages, and shipped to all over the world. The factory produces 700,000 bottles of hot sauce each day. Factory tours available 7 days a week, but during the weekend the factory itself is not in operation. You are going only to see the bottling part of the factory through a glass window though. I was hoping to be able to see their warehouse where wooden barrels are stacked up high, but the area is not for public, I guess. The tabasco plantation is not open for public either and at this time of the year there's no activity there.

Tabasco Country Store showcases Tabasco's lines of food products and souvenirs, among them are the latest Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce, jalapeno and sweet and spicy ice cream kit (you can sample them too), and a bunch of merchandises with Tabasco brand and Louisiana signature graphics.

A wooden barrel, where the mix of fresh tabasco pepper and Avery Island salt were stored to ferment for 3 years before mixed with vinegar to produce the signature Tabasco hot sauce, are exhibited by the entrance of the store. Variegated ginger foliage at the background are very common in this area.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Heavy Frost & Hibiscus

We got heavy frost on Sunday morning that turned the grass white and light brown, while in our little green house a tropical hibiscus was blooming.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Winter Job

December 16, 2009.

Trimming and cutting down trees are winter job. That's what we have done this week. The oak tree in front of the house gets a severe trimming job to get rid of the mistletoes. One dead oak tree on the road side has to go down.

Four baby flying squirrels were captured. They were found inside the hollow part of the dead oak tree by the road. Mama Squirrel and the rest of the family managed to escape. We'll keep these babies until they are stronger and ready to be released if they want to. According to the tree man, they make good pets and would stay on your shoulder no matter where you go if you let them. They are sure cute, though.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Goodbye to Garden

The killing frost has come

I say goodbye to garden

See you back in spring

© Burke's Garden, 2009

Our Neighbor's Fiery Pistachio Tree

"In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

the grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all,

Flowers in the summer

Fires in the fall! "

- Robert Louis Stevenson, Autumn Fires

This is our dear neighbor's pistachio tree. It's on fire!

It has the most wonderful fall foliage in the world

and it always does this every year!

We can see the red from our place. It's just too lovely.

Photos © Burke's Garden, 2009.

Do You See What I See?

"Winter is an etching,

spring a watercolor,

summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all."

- Stanley Horowitz

Along the tree-bordered property line, across the yellow and green pasture, a red fiery tree is peeking through and screaming, "Look at me! Look at me!".

© Burke's Garden, 2009

Simply Fall

"Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable,

the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown

along the street or road by a gusty wind,

and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.

Both are warnings of chill days ahead,

fireside and topcoat weather."

- Hal Borland

Oak leaves and acorns on sandy soil.

Red gum leaf among oak leaves and acorns.

The autumn leaves on road pavement.

Leaves on leaves.

Gum leaves and gum balls.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

November's Leaf & Mushroom

"November's sky is chill and drear,
November's leaf is red and sear."

- Sir Walter Scott

Pear tree foliage

Even mushrooms follow the trend.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Let The Zing Continue

"When the trees their summer splendor

Change to raiment red and gold,
When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;
When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;
Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year."

- Carol L. Riser, Autumn

Let the zing of autumn palette continue.

Our pear tree starts to show fall color

with Blue Butterfly still blooming

on the foreground.

Red and yellow foliage

on the trees by the road.

Dogwood tree's foliage has turned red.

Gum trees by the road.

Yellow foliage and fallen leaves

have allowed more light along

this country road.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.