This outstanding botanical garden styles itself as ‘a place of bliss, a region of supreme delight.’ And after spending some time wandering its 2½-mile trail through nine cultivated gardens you’ll rapidly find your inner Zen. Children will dig the thatched-roof tree house, butterfly house and interactive fountain, while adults get dreamy-eyed contemplating landscape architect Raymond Jungles' Scott Florida garden, filled with cascades, 12ft-tall oolite rocks and legacy tree species like date palms, sycamore leaf figs and lemon ficus.
A 14,000-sq-ft visitors center was built using reclaimed 'sinker cypress' trees, which had been sitting at the bottom of the Suwannee River for about 100 years, as siding. It houses three gardens, including a stunning outdoor orchid display containing more than 1000 different species.
The Naples Garden Club has found a home here, too, and offers on-site advice, tours and programs.
