The Beautiful Bok Tower Gardens

Theresa and Chuck like botanical gardens so we thought we'd revisit Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales….That's such a beautiful place to go see a 260 foot Neo Gothic architectural 60 bell carillon tower and some beautifully designed informal gardens. Perhaps we'd see a live concert by a carillon player from a video cam in the gardens.  Bok Tower is located between Tampa and Orlando, and it is about an hour and a half drive from Bradenton. A carillon is a musical instrument that has at least 23 cast bronze bells. Because of the weight and size of the bells, it's one of the largest musical instruments. You play it from a keyboard and it takes some very specialized musical skills to play it. The bells weigh from 16 pounds to almost 12 TONS! There are four carillons in Florida, and 200 in North America.

The tower itself is AMAZING! It's been called "America's Taj Mahal"…..

At the very top are 8 marble heron statues….

internet photo of tower top

The tower is composed of many sculptures of plants and wildlife and birds. You can see cranes, eagles, herons, jellyfish, seahorses, flamingoes, swans, fish, pelicans, foxes, tortoises, baboon, geese, Adam and Eve and the serpent, and other biblical references.

The upper balconies have doves carrying oak and laurel branches symbolizing peace and strength. There's some beautiful wrought ironwork in the fencing and gates on the property as well….There's a beautiful brass door on one side of the tower and it shows the Book of Genesis, starting with the Creation of Light.

There wasn't a live concert, that's only on Thursdays and we were there on a different day, so we didn't get to see the talented bell player this day…..but recorded concerts play at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM daily, and the gardens are open all year round, 365 days a year. There is an admission fee, ($10.00 for adults) but coupons are available on the internet to print out and offer considerable savings.

Stokes aster

You could spend hours here, the 7 1/2 acre gardens are designed for wandering and meandering around….It's a lush, informal woodland setting with the most amazing selections of plants and flowers that take your breath away…..

There are little recessed places for sitting and reflecting…There are beautiful ponds and pools and wildlife to be seen……The grounds are designated as a Florida Great Birding Trail site.

A beautiful visitor's center has a unique pebble pathway with an air plant hanging display of more than 30 different species of air plants and the history of the gardens and it's originator, Edward W. Bok. Some interesting history about this Dutch founder and his views on the world of his time can be found at the visitor's center. Bok presented this tower and gardens to the American people as a gift for his gratitude at being given opportunities to become a successful businessman in America. It's a fantastic place and well worth the drive to go see it…

Theresa and Chuck loved their visit to Bok Tower Gardens today…Here they are in front of the Pinewood Estate, which is on the garden grounds and is an example of a 20 room Mediterranean style mansion/estate that is on the National Historic Landmark list. It is decorated at Christmas time and is available as a separate tour. We just toured the outside today…..

By the way, Sparky thinks the food at the little cafe is outstanding. Best chicken salad sandwich with dried cherries she's ever had! Yum!

We look forward to heading back to Bok Tower again some day, maybe when the next round of company comes!

"Families are Like Fudge…"

"Sweet, but with a few nuts…." (Sparky, are you saying my family is a little nuts?! asks a concerned Eldo.) Nope, just saying they can be a little goofy at times…Which is true of both Eldy's and Sparky's families…They have lots of wit which is a WONDERFUL thing when you are entertaining family members. It makes being host and hostess a whole lot easier when there's lots of laughter on a family visit….And laughter we had, when Chuck and Theresa, Eldy's brother-in-law and sister arrived recently for a visit.

We've had visits from  both sides of our families over the past six months, and it's been so much fun showing them our newly adopted towns --Bradenton and Sarasota. Of course, everybody wants to see the stuff we've had in the blog, Myakka River State Park, the Ringling Museum, the Mote Aquarium, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the drum circle, Ocean Blues--the bar and grill on Hillview Street that has entertainment 7 days a week, the Sarasota Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, breakfast at the Gulf Cafe in Anna Maria Island, Sarasota polo, the Bok Tower in Lake Wales and so on and so on….

So when Theresa, Eldy's sister arrived for a week with her husband, Chuck, the day after Christmas, we were ready to be the host and hostess with the mostest! Not necessarily in the order we did them, here we go….First, the Marie Selby Gardens which had their nighttime Christmas light spectacle going on. Nineteen dollars for adults, children four to eleven are six dollars. It's gardens, a tropical conservatory, a museum of botany and the arts, and a garden shop. The gardens are open 10-5 every day except major holidays. Unfortunately, we arrived the very next day the night lights display had ended, but we still got to see some wonderful things there during the day time. They've developed a new children's rainforest section which was MARVELOUS and a wonderful opportunity for kids to walk a suspended bridge and learn about the rain forest.

One of Sparky's favorite things at the gardens is the Wishing Tree…..People write wishes on strips of fabric…

If you look a little closer, you see all kinds of interesting and wistful wishes…..

You see amazing plants and beautiful flowers at the gardens….Sparky gets a kick every time out of seeing the wild coffee tree plant and its accompanying scientific name…."psychotria nervosa"…Too funny….(I'm glad she's not a coffee drinker, that might just put her over the edge, explains E. She drinks enough Coke as it is!)

And how about some beautiful orchids….WOW! There's the conservatory there filled with all kinds of exotic ones….Marie Selby Gardens has over 6,000 species of orchids, there are bamboo and banyan groves, and a mansion on the register of historical places that houses botanical art and photography exhibits. They have different kinds of classes and many different styled gardens. This is quite the place!

And how about some beautiful bromeliads?  The center of the bromeliad had filled with water from a recent rain and these little lavender flowers were growing inside. This is so cool with the little tiny plants inside the main one, like a mini cistern! Amazing!

It's such a beautiful place Sparky is thinking of becoming a member so she can go there often for free to work on her photography skills….And on to the next place…..Mote Marine is scheduled for tomorrow…..