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Gardens will guide the small footprints

Threading through the gardens will be the interactive Children's Trail. Florida Botanical Gardens As the garden grows, so does its trail for the growing minds of children.pages 8-9

By LaRita Jacobs, Times Staff Writer
Published March 5, 2008

Amateur photographer Harold Armitage of Toronto stalks a little blue heron. Planned stations will offer child-height viewing binoculars and things to touch.
	[Jim Damaske | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Jim Damaske | Times] Knots on an oak appear to make a face. The first phase of a new trail for children is scheduled to open in the fall. [Jim Damaske | Times] An alligator slowly inches toward the bank of a pond at the gardens. Signs along the banks warn visitors that some creatures are dangerous.

Will it be Wilbur, Spike or maybe Rosy?

The "name the critter contest" going on this month is just one of many child-friendly enhancements planned for the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo.

The critter in question is a stylized bromeliad that will grace the signs of the new Children's Trail, a self-guided interactive path for children up to age 10.

Thousands of children visit the gardens each year to see wildlife, learn about rare and exotic plants and attend classes.

The goal of the trail is to make the experience even more appealing to kids. Interactive stations will be placed along the gardens' current paths. The stations are intended to help kids learn about the environment while having fun.

Sixteen prospective sites have been identified as stops along the trail. The first phase is scheduled to open in the fall.

"We have plans for the first four stations. As we do more fundraising, we hope to move to other phases," said Dianne Wheatley-Giliotti, chairwoman of the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation.

Plans call for a station at the Butterfly Garden, which will teach the different stages of the zebra longwing, Florida's state butterfly. One is also planned at the fruit garden that will show nutritional information about bananas, pineapple, citrus and passion fruit.

"I bring my young grandson to the gardens, and he is interested in seeing bananas grow on trees," said Wheatley-Giliotti. "We want kids to say 'wow' or 'I didn't know that.' We want the trail to be interactive, engaging and whimsical."

Other stations will offer child-height viewing binoculars and things to touch and manipulate.

If you go

Florida Botanical Gardens

Where: 12520 Ulmerton Road

Phone:(727) 582-2100

Cost: Free

Garden hours: Open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

[Last modified March 4, 2008, 22:34:19]