A brief dash to the Florida Keys for some sun (60F warmer than Pennsylvania) and relaxation brings us to Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West. (For the benefit of Brits, Key West is the southernmost point of Florida, just 80 miles across the sea from Cuba, at the tip of the long string of islands – The Keys - extending in a westerly curve from just south of Miami).

The Hemingway House is where Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, To Have And Have Not and For Whom The Bell Tolls were written and is well worth a visit. Not only to see the writing studio and the wonderful house - his wife had the ceiling fans taken out so she could display her collection of chandeliers – but also to see its population of 49 six-toed cats – all named. (There's a live Cat-Cam on the website but it doesn’t always seem to work.)

However, this is a horticultural blog and one of the striking things about the grounds is that many of the more significant trees, like this African tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata), are labeled. And not with hand-written tags but using sturdy an easy-to-read engraved labels.

This African tulip tree is higher than the house and although battered by hurricanes still makes a fine show, its red or yellow flowers opening for a few days each all the year round. Originally from Tropical Africa, the tree has been planted in Florida as a shade or street tree and its wind blown seeds have allowed it to become established in the wild. It’s considered invasive in Hawaii. One odd thing about this tree: the banana-shaped flower buds are filled with water and can be made to squirt like a water pistol.

Oh… and we’ve been out fishing of course with yellow tail snapper, Spanish mackerel, blue runners, all getting past the log-size barracuda as they waited for us to provide them with dinner . And there was the grouper that got away after a twenty minute battle – there’s always one.