The "Meeting The Gardener: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Standing by the pool waiting for the gardener to begin the tour of his tropical garden.  Over a year ago I began an email correspondence with Barbara who is the moderator of gobeach.com/sxm.  I found out through her that her husband/gardener was celebrating 50 years in business and I asked if I could write about the occasion.  She was more than willing to have me do so, but while on the island I never had the opportunity to meet her husband Diederick.  Well, it's a year later and today Carol and I are visiting Barbara and Diederick in their hillside home in the Dutch Cul de Sac area of Sint Maarten.  After arriving we were greeted by Barbara who had summoned her husband/gardener to take us on a tour of his tropical garden.  The property around their home is covered in a variety of tropical shrubs, trees and flowers and is exactly what I would imagine a tropical villa on a Caribbean island to be like.  Perhaps at this time I should give you a visual tour as I show you the photos I took of Diederick's remarkable tropical garden high in the hills of Sint Maarten overlooking the capital city of Philipsburg.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The beautiful and inviting pool area.  This area is shared by a few iguanas that enjoy their swims in the pool. I just love the red and white tiles that surround the entrance to the garden.

Dee's orchids are in full bloom.

Most of his palm trees have other plants growing up their trunks to add more color and lushness as seen in this photo.

The Ixora are beginning to open.

The many red hibiscus bloom in the garden.

Carol, Dee and Barbara are examining the many Manila Palms in the garden.

The walks throughout the garden have tile details embedded in them.

Philodendrons climb the trunk of the palm trees.  They do no harm to the tree and add extra interest to the garden.

You get such a tropical feeling when walking throughout the garden.

Dee's garden is filled with star lilies such as this one.

Tropical foliage fills my camera frame in this photo

These beautiful dark and light blue-purple Petrea, also known as Queen's wreath, fill the flower boxes along Barbara and Dee's second floor patio. 

Barbara and Carol enjoy their walk through Dee's garden.

This is a beautiful variegated Croton plant.

This Curacao Frangipani is gorgeous.

This is one of many of Dee's pink Ginger plants.

This is the petite Flamboyant tree that fills the garden with bright hues.