Skip the Theme Parks — Head for Orlando’s Leu Gardens!

When Jennifer Beam , Visitor Services & Programs Director at Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida , asked me what calendar month I want to vanish out for a couple of presentations , I enjoin , “ Whenever the mosquitos are modest enough you ca n’t sit on them and I wo n’t need a 55 - congius membranophone of talcum gunpowder . ”

So on March 7 , just before the stroke of midnight , I boarded a red - eye flight from L.A. to Orlando , with a plane variety in Cleveland . Bad move . Arriving at Lord’s Day - up fresh as a month - honest-to-god flannel , I made the one - 60 minutes drive to Lake Wales , motoring through a less - than - exuberant landscape I had n’t expected .

I was excited to be on my means to the highest summit in Florida … 300 foundation ABOVE SEA LEVEL ! ( I figured I set up a base camp at 150 , acclimatise for a few days , then face the last assault . ) I ’d be doing two events in one day : a take the air - and - talk intention workshop using the beautiful Fredrick Law Olmstead Jr.-designed gardens as a living schoolroom , followed by an evening Crimes Against Horticulture lecture .

Alas , I was so busy project out where to precede my turn , I neglect to tear a single photograph . So , although I ’d like to divvy up the fabulously diverse , mystical qualities of this world - class garden and historic landmark with you , I can only offer thisBok Tower Gardenslink and implore you to bypass the formative allure of Disney World , Universal Orlando or Legoland , and or else , set your GPS for Bok next time you ’re in that part of the world .

The next morn , I was returning to the airport and found myself with a few hours to kill , so I head for the extremely value Orlando Museum of Art . As luck would have it , I got lost and found myself see at a serial of streamer hang from the streetlamps , announcing theHarry P. Leu Gardens . GARDENS !

A couple of minutes by and by , I was park my rental car , dashing through the visitor ’s center ( after paying a minor admission fee ) , and wandering in the captivating embrace of this unexpected , 50 - Accho botanic oasis . Although there were a issue of plants I ’m intimate with from my nigh - frostless Santa Barbara home - base , I was also aware that what grows in zona 9B gives the words “ sub - tropic Eden ” new meaning . Here ’s what I ascertain .

Right out of Gone With the Wind ’s deep south ambiance , this toweringly elegant Southern live oak tree ( Quercus virginiana ) came alive as easy breezes off Lake Rowena set clusters of Spanish moss saltation .

protect from the red-hot sun by the mottled light of Amerind laurels and oaks , a diverse population of fern , thenar and industrial plant I only see in people ’s nursery window flourish and make a arras of live colors and cool textures .

As I came around the crook of one of the many paths that snake through Leu Gardens , all that was missing was an ancient stone temple from the jungles of Thailand or Central America . This finale - up of one of the garden ’s manyFicus microcarpashows how adventitious roots thrive in humid climates , surface the main trunks with hundreds of wet - seeking member .

Not far from the entrance is an area capably name the Idea Garden , fill up with residentially - scale mini - landscape and labor , let in a few raised mesa - same gardens like the one pictured above . This 3 - acre country showcases different plant groups that include the themed gardens : Bird , Bog , Enabling , Evening , Fragrance , Ornamental Grass , Shade , Subtropical Fruit , Urban Patio and Wildflower , as well as mental synthesis ideas .

Lest you intend that everything at the Leu Gardens looks like a tantrum from a Tarzan motion-picture show , there are traditionally landscaped outer space that include an extensive rosaceous garden and this finely hued , unfussy combination draw in sheer stroke .

Mr. and Mrs. Harry P. Leu purchase the property in 1936 and set to creating a garden that express their sexual love of plant . They journey all over the earthly concern and brought back many alien specimens and over 240 varieties of camellia . The house and gardens were deeded to the city of Orlando in 1961 .

Bordered by Lake Rowena , the garden turns from wild , as well as incline country , to nigh primeval . Shallow , muddy shoreline are punctuated with bald cypress tree Tree ( Taxodium mucrinatum ) , hatch with water lilies and teem with turtleneck , aquatic birds and the occasional ‘ gator .

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