See the Gardens of Central Florida

May 12th, 2015

Mention central Florida, and the first thing that comes to mind for most people is Disney World.

While Mickey is for sure a world-class attraction, it’s not all that region has to offer.

In my mind, it’s a warm place to shave some time off of winter while ogling gorgeous gardens that actually are blooming in January and February.

My wife, Sue, and I spent a few weeks a winter ago scouting out gardener attractions of central Florida, and we found six that are well worth seeing.

See 24 photos I took on that trip on a Photo Gallery of Gardens of Central Florida.

If you’re interested in seeing these six gardens – or just getting away to somewhere warmer than here for a week in winter – Lowee’s Group Tours and I have put together a new trip scheduled for Tue., Feb. 2, through Tue., Feb. 9, 2016.

To sign up or get more information, email Chrissie Kelly at Lowee’s Group Tours at CKelly@lowees.com or call 717-657-9658 or toll-free 1-888-345-6933.

The cost is $1,995 per person double, including airfare, lodging, transportation, luggage-handling, admissions and 13 meals.

We’ll jet to Orlando to spend a week soaking up the tropical gardens in the balmy South while central Pennsylvania freezes its buds off. And yes, we’re blocking out time to see a bit of Disney while we’re there.

This 8-day, 7-night gardener’s winter get-away starts with a flight to Orlando and a first-afternoon tour of Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens with its beautiful palms, camellias and roses. Believe it or not, the roses will be blooming in February already.

I’d have to rank this one second or third on my list of favorite gardens anywhere in Florida. It’s nicely laid out with a good mix of formal gardens and woods, including an interesting display of Florida fruits.

We’ll then check into the Comfort Suites Maingate East, located just minutes from the Disney theme parks and in the midst of some 60 shops and restaurants. We’re staying there all 7 nights.

Day 2 features a “behind-the-seeds” tour of Epcot Center’s Land Pavilion where we’ll take a tour into the four greenhouses and fish farm that most visitors see only from boats. Epcot was doing hydroponics like this long before it became trendy in the last few years.

After the greenhouse tour, we’ll have the rest of the day to explore Epcot or any Disney theme park with our two-day Park Hopper passes that are included with the trip.

Day 3 is a visit to my favorite Florida garden – Sarasota’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

Most people rank the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables as Florida’s top public garden, but I’ve seen both and like Selby better.

Selby has an amazing collection of palms and tropical trees as well as more color plants than Fairchild (at least in winter). Especially eye-grabbing are the “walking” strangler figs and the Moreton Bay figs with their gigantic panel-like roots. (Those were the dinosaur-era trees shown in the film Jurassic Park.)

But my favorite part of Selby Botanical Gardens is the children’s garden. This area features a rock cliff with waterfalls and a landscape that lets kids explore through what feels like a tropical rainforest.

The morning of Day 3 is a stop at Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Station to see schools of manatees.

On the way back from Selby in the late afternoon, we’ll stop at one of those hidden gems that’s a favorite of snowbirds – the Parkesdale Farm Market. This roadside market has world-class strawberry sundaes and shakes, featuring berries grown and picked fresh from the neighboring farm. Strawberries are in season in early February in central Florida. Sue and I liked this place so much that we stopped there twice on our trip.

Day 4 is a free day to visit Disney parks or one of the area’s many other fun attractions or just to relax by the hotel pool. Our hotel offers a free shuttle to the Disney parks, and then your Park Hopper pass lets you use free Disney transportation to go from one park to another.

Day 5 is a trip to two superb Florida East-Coast gardens – the 18-acre “jungle garden” of McKee Botanical Gardens (founded by a Penn Stater) and Fort Pierce’s Heathcote Botanical Gardens.

McKee was once 80 acres and one of Florida’s premier tourist attractions – drawing 100,000 visitors a year – before Disney came along. Strolling paths wind you through all sorts of tropical vistas, most of them featuring bridges and water. I especially liked the bat-pollinated “sausage trees” with hanging fruits that look like sausages.

The best part of Heathcote is its tropical bonsai garden. The crafted tropicals are set on ornate pedestals in beds of stone. Heathcote also has an excellent Japanese garden with waterfall.

Day 6 is off to Lakeland, where we’ll see the city-operated Hollis Gardens, a formally designed garden with terraced waterfalls, tropical blooms, and an edible-landscape display. Set in a beautiful location next to Lakeland’s Mirror Lake, this is one of the nicest municipal-run gardens I’ve ever seen. It’s very colorful and well maintained.

Then it’s over to Lake Wales to tour the 50-acre Bok Towers Gardens with its 205-foot-tall granite “singing tower” with carillon organ. We’re timing it to be there on a day and time when a carillon concert is scheduled.

Bok Towers is the winter estate of Philadelphian Edward Bok, once the editor of Ladies Home Journal. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the grounds, which are primarily Florida woodland.

This stop includes the 8-acre landscaped “El Retiro” estate of Bethlehem Steel’s C. Austin Buck with its allee of kumquat trees in the front yard.

Day 7 is nature oriented to get a flavor of the native plants and wildlife of Florida. We’ll start with a 2-hour cruise on the Banana River Lagoon to see its mangrove swamps, tidal flats, rich marine life and maybe even some manatees, dolphins, turtles and alligators.

After lunch, we’ll visit the Merritt Island National Refuge with time to hike the quarter-mile bird trail.

Day 8 we head home with a camera full of great photos and a February tan.