Nature Preserve Archives - Cultivated and Wild

Wild Spaces

Year in Review: 5 Places That Captured My Heart in 2018

I had different plans for 2018. I thought I’d spend my days strolling through manicured gardens, oohing and aahing at the delightful plant combinations. Life doesn’t always go as planned, however. Instead, my travels took me to the remote corners of the United States－far from cities and people. High in the mountains, you don’t find many gardens, at least not man-made ones.

Luckily for me, nature creates vignettes more beautiful than you can find in many gardens. Tall pines frame beautiful vistas. In wild meadows, grasses and wildflowers layer like brushstrokes on a living canvas. Wildflowers cascade down mountain slopes, softening rugged landscapes. An expansive carpet of ferns adds tranquility to a forest.

This year, I was a careful observer of the patterns in nature and found inspiration in its diverse environments. Reflecting on 2018, these are five places that captured my heart.

Wild Spaces

Get Muddy Exploring Big Cypress National Preserve

The first steps are the most difficult. Before you looms a mixture of marl mud and periphyton algae that resembles vomit. Like soggy cheese puffs, the algae floats on the water’s surface.

Don’t hesitate, just walk in. There’s no other way. You will get muddy and wet. But it is completely worth it to be able to see the interior of Big Cypress National Preserve. Once inside, you’ll quickly forget the mud. A beautiful otherworldly forest rises up from the water before you.

Wild Spaces

Palmettos and Pines at Hal Scott Preserve, Orlando Florida

The vast open prairie and pine flatwoods provide little shade at the Hal Scott Preserve and Park. On a cloudless day, the sun is relentless. Sunscreen is a must. I wouldn’t recommend visiting in the heat of summer. But on a cool winter morning, the sun’s warmth is welcome.

For hours, I walk alone through a never-ending sea of saw palmettos. The sharp leaf segments of the palm fans surround me, their tips catching the sunlight. They glow an intense—almost unnatural—chartreuse.