Strolling around the Old Northeast, you’ll see a wide variety of ferns. But some ferns might surprise you from one day to the next – or even one moment to the next. One is the pleopeltis polypodioides or “resurrection fern.” The other, mimosa pudica, looks like a fern, but is actually a perennial weed. Both exhibit strange behaviors. 

The resurrection fern is unique for a number of reasons. First, it’s an epiphyte, or air plant, which means it grows not in the soil, but on the sides of trees and houses. It gets its name because during dry periods, this plant will wilt and turn brown, losing up to 97% of its water.… Read More

Getting around the bay area without a car keeps getting more interesting. We have scooter and bike rentals, a seasonal ferry, trollies, and even an old-fashioned streetcar. Now, St. Pete boasts an innovative way to whisk residents and visitors through some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Of course, I’m referring to the new SunRunner, the Bus Rapid Transit Route (BRT) that takes riders from downtown to St. Pete Beach.  

Spend more than a few minutes with someone in our house and you’ll start hearing about how much we love the new SunRunner. I’ve been accused of being on the PSTA payroll, but I assure readers that the only thing PSTA has given me is a ride.… Read More

Florida is full of colorful plants and the Old Northeast can feel even more exotic with all the decorative flowering plants neighbors add to their yard. But one local shrub isn’t just a pretty ornament. The beautyberry is downright magical in that it’s not only safe to eat, it’ll keep the mosquitoes away.  

The beautyberry (callicarpa americana) is scattered throughout the area, but specifically noticeable along Oak Street between 16th and 17th Avenues NE. Birds love the bright purple berries, but they’re also safe for us to eat. They look a bit like a purple blackberry that you might want to gobble by the handful.… Read More

When former Superintendent Michael Grego retired after ten years on the job, the Pinellas County School District didn’t have to look far for his replacement. New Superintendent Kevin Hendrick has been a fixture in the school district for 25 years. Hendrick is a local. He grew up in Belleair and Largo, graduated from Largo High School, and went to USF. He began his career teaching math at Pinellas Park High School before spending six years at Dunedin High School teaching social studies and coaching basketball. 

Hendrick moved to the Old Northeast 11 years ago to shorten his commute when he took a position as assistant principal at Palmetto High School in Manatee County.… Read More

In this hot housing market, many Zillow listings for the Old Northeast mention the beautiful old trees, the proximity to downtown, the waterfront parks. But there’s something important home-sellers often fail to share. Frankly, it should be in the “Disclosures.” But if you’ve moved to Old Northeast recently, perhaps you’ve heard some version of, “You know about Halloween, right?”

Like it or not, in ONE, Halloween is a part of your life now, and you have three choices: You can embrace it and turn your home into a haunted mansion, a pirate ship, or a spooky orphanage. You can turn the lights off and hide.… Read More

One the corner of 10th Avenue North and 3rd Street stands a tree with a stocky trunk and limbs like flexed biceps curving up toward the sky. It almost begs to be climbed, but this tree is hardly welcoming. The trunk and branches are protected by rock-hard thorns. And not just a few thorns. The Brazilian floss silk tree wears an armor that keeps even a squirrel from exploring its limbs. 

It was planted about 25 years ago by Cynthia Serra and Allison Butler who came to St. Petersburg in 1990. They found the tree when it was little more than a stick at a nursery in Miami.… Read More

In the pre-dawn hours, before the onslaught of morning commuters, the Snell Isle Bridge rests. Long before the first rays of morning sun hit the tops of the tallest palms, figures emerge in the dark distance, one by one. Ghostlike, they come from every direction, gaining focus as streetlights reflect off the silver strips of their shoes and tank tops.

Who gets up this early?

It’s the morning runners. And they do mean runners; call them joggers at your peril. If you don’t know them, you might not understand. But if you know one, you probably know most of them – this tight-knit group of elite competitors for whom “going on a run” can mean 15 miles or more.… Read More

Before St. Petersburg was the Sunshine City, some early promoters tested a less beachy moniker: The City of Mounds. It might be surprising to learn that the area was dotted with Native American mounds of all sizes and shapes, most notably a complex of a least a dozen mounds close to the Tampa Bay shoreline around the vicinity of Booker Creek, Bayboro Harbor, and Mound Park Hospital, better known today as Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

According to Robert J. Austin in an article published by the Florida Anthropological Society, the Shell Mound at Mound Park Hospital –  estimated to be about 20-25-feet tall with a diameter of 90-feet – was one of the most photographed mounds in Florida and a prominent tourist attraction for the growing City of St.… Read More

In 1961, local Black civic leaders and civil rights activists Dr. Ralph Wimbish and Dr. Robert Swain sent shockwaves through the baseball world. They refused to continue the practice of opening their homes and hotels to Black players who were not permitted to stay with their white teammates in local St. Petersburg hotels.

Their actions weren’t meant to discriminate against the Black players – just the opposite. Their stand effectively ended segregation of baseball’s spring training, and brought on the integration of hotels in St.… Read More

Summer in the Old Northeast: the shouts of kids splashing in swimming pools, the howl of leaf blowers, the hum of mosquitoes, and the song of the ice cream truck – warbled by the humid air. In summer, there’s plenty of parking on Beach Drive and you don’t need a reservation. But a lot of our neighbors beat the heat by disappearing north. A few years ago, we decided to join the club.

It wasn’t retirement that afforded my family the chance to spend summers in a cooler climate. Our life changed five years ago, when I spent much of the summer of 2016 hospitalized from a series of major medical events.… Read More