Stephen King is now a Florida resident and lives in Sarasota. I think he's describing those vines that climb up oaks -- some plant on purpose for that effect. It does give the proper jungle effect, but I don't think it's native either.

But, you're not mistaken. He admits to making some Florida 'errors' in this recent interview:

He hesitated about using Florida as a setting: "There are so many good writers who grew up there and know it so much better than I do." He rattles off a list that starts with John D. MacDonald and ends with Dave Barry, a fellow would-be musician in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band of writers who perform at benefits.

King decided that Freemantle, who narrates the novel, would be from elsewhere: "In Florida, he's an outsider, like me." But King, who has set most of his novels in his native Maine, knows that exploring new terrain, even in a novel, is tricky.

Already, he says, a reader from Florida caught a factual mistake: There's a reference in the novel to the Ritz, but at the time, the hotel had another name. "If I really knew Florida, I'd know that."

Marcia
Your reading explains why you are such a smart Lady!

Saintpfla
Very educating! I am here for lessons.lol
I read mostly non-fiction but the other members of the household are into fiction. I like the scary movies based on his novels.

Willy

There are some tropical rhododendrons--really pretty but not cold hardy. Maybe he means those.

Bill

Marcia, I believe Stephen King refers to Casey Key, a barrier island south of Sarasota, north of Venice, FL. He actually lives at the northernmost tip of the key. I lived in the mid section of Casey Key for nine years, but moved away a few years ago.

I am not a Stephen King fan, so I don't know what he describes. I do know that the vegetation on Casey does include sea oats, sea grapes, a multitude of palms, as well as many other beautiful native gulf-coast flora. Unfortunately, exotics are part of the vegetation as well. What, in my estimation he is referring to, is a type of old-Florida, large Indian Hawthorne. I don't know what this particular species is called, but I have never seen any like the ones on Casey Key. We had a number of these bushes that were about 10-12 feet tall, and were, as he describes, impenetrable. These beautiful shrubs are not like the present day dwarf indian hawthorne cultivars. They are gnarly, and thick, and are that way from the ground up to the top. No one would ever be able to brush them aside and walk through a hedge of these. I personally shaped several of these on our property to show the beautiful curved trunks, in a bonsai type manner. It would take me a couple of weeks to do one bush. We are talking large. They do resemble rhododendrons in the habit of the bush, but are quite different too.

I can't think of anything else on the key that fits the impenetrable adjective as perfectly as these majestic hawthornes. Unfortunately, many of the old-style beach cottage homes have been torn down to build McMansions on the beautiful key, taking the lovely hawthornes and natural vegetation to make way for these monster homes to fit on expensive beach or bayfront lots.

Anna

Thanks for the input, folks.

Duma Key is a fictional island that is almost completely uninhabited, except for a few summer visitors, and one mysterious resident who owns a large Spanish style home on one end of the island. It doesn't represent any real island, but naturally has some elements from existing Gulf Islands.

Saintp, he isn't describing vines, though there are some mentioned here and there. He is describing large, woody shrubs that have become thickets, and his descriptions SOUND like Rhododendrons that you would see in the mountains and northern states. I was 99.9% sure we do not have "real" rhododendrons in Florida, but wasn't sure if there was a more tropical plant that might be called that by locals. Bill's mention of tropical rhodos sounds like a possibility, though I can't imagine that an entire island, relatively deserted, would be completely overgrown with them.

Anna, the hawthorne might be a possibility. Perhaps he saw some and thought they were rhodies.

It's funny. I can be all caught up in this slightly spooky story and enjoying all the Florida references and beachy ambience, and then he mentions these rhodo thickets, and my brain slams right to a stop. I can't make myself even picture such a thing as a Sanibel type island covered in thickets of North Carolina rhododendrons. It doesn't compute.

Maybe I'll just email him and find out what he was talking about. Believe it or not, I have written more than one author (though none quite as famous as King) and gotten replies back. One of my favorite authors has written me several times, and we have had a lively discussion or two on her characters and story lines. Maybe Stephen King will write me back. Stranger things have happened. Hahaha. I'll let you know if he does!

And btw, anyone who hangs out with Dave Barry can't be all bad in my estimation. Barry is one of my favorite humorists, and I've read lots about their band. Another writer I really enjoy, Jim Butcher, is part of it too, I believe. (Or maybe I made that up...you can't trust me for a minute, you know!)

And Willy...I'm SO glad I have fooled you into thinking I'm 1) smart and 2) a lady! *grin* Really, I love reading so much, but I guess you could say half of what I read goes in one eyeball and out the other! Retention problems, you know? I think I need Mind Depends!!!

Marcia

Maybe they are fictional rhododendrons. If it's a fictional island he can put fictional plants on it.

True, Bill...but it is supposed to be representative of Florida. It harks back to this state in all its glory every other sentence. So, my thoughts are, the island may be fictional, but it is supposed to be a perfect example of a small Florida key. AND I WANT THOSE DANG RHODODENDRONS TO GO AWAY!!! Oh, how they distract me!

How am I supposed to focus on phantom limb pain somehow connected to visions of things that haven't happened yet if there are all these steenkin' non-Florida rhododendrons right outside the door? On the DUNES? Next to the BEACH? Beside the pilings!! I tell ya, it's enough to drive me bonkers. (Can you tell it doesn't take much?)

Hahaha,
Marcia

Well, Marcia, you know Stephen King has been known from time to time to sacrifice verisimilitude for the sake of suspense. I bet he just threw those rhododendrons in for spooky atmosphere. I have to check out this book.

I guess he didn't think thickets of sea grapes, mangroves and brazilian pepper added enough suspense, eh?

So far, the book is pretty interesting, and I do like the Florida setting...when I'm not distracted by stuff that shouldn't be there. (And I don't mean visions, ghosts, or other strange shouldn't-be-there things that really ARE elements of the story.)

When King is good, he's very enjoyable. When he's bad, he's awful. (Tommyknockers comes to mind.) I prefer Dean R. Koontz, actually, for this type of book. But I'm about a quarter of the way into Duma Key, and it IS holding my interest...so far.

Marcia

When I returned Duma Key to the library, I told the librarian "He's Baaack". That was the best SKing book I have read in years. Well, Cell was pretty good, too. I could not put the book down. But even I knew that rhododendrons don't grow in FL. Just check out the north side of my house. I have been struggling to keep one alive for three years.

I love Dean Koontz, too, especially Odd Thomas. I just picked up "Your Heart Belongs To Me", read 167 pages, finally checked out a couple of peer reviews and returned the darn thing to library. It stunk, in plain english.

I inhale books, too. Thank God I live less than 1/2 mile from the library cuz I am there all the time!

Ah..you know, I was thinking "philodendron" -- not 'rhododendron'. LOL...maybe Steven King was as well!

Wing, I'm really getting into this one now. I hope he doesn't pull the kind of lousy, cheating cop-out ending he did at the end of the Dark Tower series. I threw the last book clean across the room!

Koontz's Odd Thomas books rank as one of my very favorite series in a long, long time. Oddie is so endearing! I never want the series to end.

Saintp, he might have been thinking philo instead of rhodo, but he is not describing vines of any kind. Big shrubs. Twisted trunks. Thickets. Just like mountain grown rhodies from North Carolina. I hope he doesn't mention them any more, because even though it doesn't spoil the tale, it DOES distract me.

I once read a book about Florida that had "green serpents, as thick as your wrist" dripping from tree limbs everywhere the people went. Huh?? (And this was many years ago, before exotics started taking over down south). I simply could not finish the book. It was preposterous.

Wing, I live about 6 miles from my library, so not too bad, but lately, I've been reading so many series that I wanted to OWN. I've spent a fortune at Books A Million. And anyone who thinks that gardens are magical should definitely read Garden Spells. The most beautiful and poetic little story I've read in years. RUN, don't walk, to buy this book. It's so lovely, I gave it to everyone on my shopping list this Christmas.

Now back to my original question, I'm not seeing any responses that make me think there are veritable jungles of rhododendrons growing on Florida Keys unbeknownst to me. Therefore, I do believe King made a mistake of some sort. Perhaps he mistook another large thickety shrub for rhodies because they grow where he comes from, and he thought he recognized them. But I'm fairly confident now that my surprise in reading those descriptions was justified.

Thanks, all!

Marcia

On the way to the library to get Garden Spells....

On the way to the library to get Garden Spells....

I should have noted that Garden Spells is by Sarah Addison Allen. I bought several at Books-A-Million and at Barnes & Noble. She has a new one out I'm ordering called The Sugar Queen. Don't know how it will be, but Garden Spells is enchanting. Poetry in prose form. And full of lovely plant imagery.

Marcia