Bok Tower Gardens Part Two

The Gardens at Bok Tower Garden were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.  It features acres of ferns, palms oaks, pines, and wetland plants.  The plants include camelias, tree ferns, creeping fig, yaupon and dahoon, holly, Asiatic jasmine, justicia, crinum & spider lily, monstera, wax myrtle, date and sabal palms, philodendron, blue plumbgo and horsetail rush.  It is also a bird sanctuary with more that a hundred bird species.  Wild turkeys and groups of sandhill cranes are also seen wandering the grounds.  When the gardens first opened flamingos were brought in and it was a battle to keep them living due to the weather not being warm enough for them to survive,  Eventually, after losing quite a few flamingos,  the project was given up and the battle was over.  The surviving flamingos were sent back down to southern Florida. While we were at Bok Tower Gardens the orange blossoms were in bloom in the orange groves and the smell of the orange blossoms were everywhere.  It smelled so good and I was hoping the gift shop would have the sent in a candle or air freshener.   Bok Tower Garden is a beautiful peaceful place where you can relax, stroll the gardens and listen to the carillon bells. I am not a person who knows the name of plants and flowers.  Oh, I can identify a rose, tulip, daisy and pansy but after seeing the gardens I felt like a complete idiot when looking at a flower then looking for the sign that identifies the flower, bush or tree.  Now that I have been to Bok Tower I have been educated and might even be able to identify an odd flower or plant.  Don't test me though because I did not take notes!  If you are in central Florida by Lake Wales it is worth a visit to Bok Tower Gardens.  It can be a couple hour visit or an all day excursion. 
Today we are not doing much of anything.  Just hanging around the RV resort and we have the added bonus of being surrounded by orange groves so the scent of orange blossoms is in the air and it smells really good.  There are a few things going on around the area in surrounding towns so we may take a drive and check a couple out.  Have a good Friday!