Florida Botanical Gardens

Florida is home to several beautiful Botanical Gardens that are sure to please the nature lover.

In Northwestern Florida in Tallahassee, you will find the Alfred B. Maclay State Gardens. This botanical garden is actually a 28-acre state park, which is also registered as a United States National Historic Landmark District as of August 16, 20002. It is not only home to a variety of historic building but also to flowers such as azaleas and camellias, Trees including bald cypress, black gum, cyrilla, dogwood, hickory, holly, Japanese maple, oak, plum, redbud, sweetgum, and Torreya taxifolia. Other flora and fauna found at this botanical garden include ardisia, aucuba, coontie, Chapman's rhododendron, gardenia, ginger, jasmine, Oriental magnolia, mountain laurel, nandina, palmetto, sago palm, selaginella, wisteria, and yucca filamentosa.

The Bok Tower Gardens is a very popular stop if you are wishing to see acres of ferns, palms, oaks, pines, and wetland plants. Located in Lake Wales, Florida, Bok Towers Gardens is home to bunya-bunya trees, camellias, tree ferns, creeping fig, yaupon and dahoon holly, Asiatic jasmine, justicia, crinum and spider lily, monstera, wax myrtle, date and sabal palm, papyrus, philodendron, blue plumbago, and horsetail rush along with native wildlife, birds, reptiles, squirrels, and butterflies.

Many visitors to Fort Lauderdale, Florida have to visit Flamingo Gardens. Flamingo Gardens is a 60-acre botanical garden, wildlife sanctuary, and aviary. Throughout the 60 acres you will be able to enjoy over 3,000 species of tropical and sub-tropical plants which include ferns, orchids, ancient oak trees, bromeliads, and of course a variety of over 300 species of palm trees. Animals you will enjoy to see in their natural habitat include alligators, otters, blue-beaked ducks, pelicans, peacocks, and of course the beautiful flamingo.

The Fruit and Spice Park is another popular botanical garden that allows you to see 32 acres of unique and wonderful varieties of over 500 species of fruit, nut, and spice trees which does include around 80 different banana tree varieties. Some of the other wonderful trees you will see include 125 different mango trees, 40 different grape varieties, 70 bamboo species, jackfruit, guava, sapolilla, canistel, lychee, longan, sapote, mamey, jaboticaba, miracle fruit, cecropia, wax jambu, coffee beans, and many other exotic edible plants. This unique park is located just a short 30 miles southwest of Miami, Florida.

The National Tropical Botanical Garden has five gardens throughout its organization, which are in Hawaii and one located in Florida. The organization has programs such as scientific research, education, and conservation. The one in Florida is located in Coconut Grove and is an 8-acre botanical park with emphasis on the various tropical fruits.

Largo, Florida is home to The Florida Botanical Gardens, which is a beautiful 182-acre garden, found in the Pinewood Cultural Park. The gardens presented at this time include Bromeliad Garden, Celebration Garden, Cottage Garden, Daylily Garden, Groundcover Garden, Jazz Garden, Palm Garden, Rose Garden, Sculpture Garden, Topiary Garden, Tropical Courtyard, and Tropical Walk with a variety of many different plants.