Sunken Gardens elevates spirits of easy-to-bore kids

By KATHERINE SNOW SMITH

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

If you're looking for a change from your favorite park or an outing that's closer and cheaper than the Florida Aquarium, try Sunken Gardens. The newly reopened botanical garden doesn't have the glitz and sizzle of Busch Gardens, but it's not supposed to. Even without roller coasters, lions or cartoon characters it offers young kids a fun romp with nature for an hour or two.

I took my two girls, ages 3 and 1, to the garden last week to try it out. We arrived at 11:30 a.m. and learned the bird show started at 1 p.m. I was afraid we'd end up weaving baskets out of monkey grass to find some way to occupy ourselves for an hour and a half, but the girls and Sunken Gardens surprised me.

The city has added 6,000 new plants since it took over the ailing gardens at 1825 Fourth St. N in September. There are two new butterfly houses children will love. There are a few other exhibits -- rainforest reptiles in the lobby, gorgeous flamingos, a turtle pond, an alligator, a bald eagle and a butterfly garden. But I think it was the wide-open Wedding Lawn surrounded by tall trees and bright flowers, the bridges crossing the waterfalls and the Wishing Well that went over best with my 3-year-old, Olivia. These features help make the small but picturesque gardens the perfect setting for running wild and playing make-believe.

Olivia milked every corner of the 4.5-acre park and its 1-mile trail. She found plenty to do, from playing Billy Goat's Gruff on the bridges to throwing change in the Wishing Well. (Bring pennies!)

As for Charlotte, well let's face it -- the younger child gets dragged along a lot of times when she can't enjoy things nearly as much as the older one. Still, she had a good time. Her little finger was pointing at every vibrant flower, towering palm tree and park bench in the place.

I realized I was trying to be a little too structured in my quest to make this simple garden a stimulating and learning experience. When we entered I told Olivia I had written a list of colors and we had to find a flower, animal or bird for each one. While she was transfixed by the flamingos, I was babbling on about them meeting our pink requirement.

"Now what do you see that's purple?" I asked.

She ignored the question but excitedly told me to look at the flamingos.

"Yes, they are our pink thing, Olivia. But we need to find something purple," I prodded.

"Mommy, look at that one," she urged me again. "Look at his head."

I finally took a second to see this long-necked, contorted flamingo resting his head on his own back to take a nap.

Okay. Mommy needs to relax. I ditched the color game and let Olivia be the tour guide from then on.

After about 45 minutes the girls were getting a little bored so we marched to the so-called Wedding Lawn for a picnic. Like a lot of parents, we love to picnic with the kids. But usually it's on the way to somewhere in a parking lot, on a quilt at a crowded outdoor performance, at the beach or the playground. The picnic usually gets in the way of something much more interesting as far as my daughter is concerned.

But at Sunken Gardens that day, we had done it all by lunch time. So we got to just sit there and eat and talk about what was around us. She log-rolled on the sunny lawn between bites of her peanut butter and jelly. We looked at the clouds. And Charlotte got to crawl to her heart's content without getting yanked up for fear of steps, cars or dog droppings. If I had thought to bring a few books, I think we would have hung out there a little longer even.

But at about 12:40 p.m. we headed over to the Comedy Safari Bird Show. You can get from almost any point in the park to another in under seven minutes, so we still had about 20 minutes to kill waiting in the wooden bleachers for show time. But we got good seats as a crowd of about 60 made its way in for this Friday afternoon show. (Weekday shows are at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. On weekends there is an additional 11 a.m. show. The park itself is open Wednesday through Sunday.)

There was nothing too astounding. No cockatoos riding a miniature bicycle across the tight wire. But Mark Preston, aka Safari Joe, led his birds through some good tricks that brought chuckles and smiles to the audience. And the crowds, so far, are small enough, that there is a good chance Preston will invite most or all of the kids in the audience to come on stage and help him out.

The gardens will offer various children's programs by its own staff as well as Great Explorations, the Science Center and area recreation centers. Doug Scull, a notable kids' nature enthusiast, is also on the roster. Along with leading nature hikes, he's hoping to have safari kits with magnifying glasses and compost sifters for kids to borrow when they visit on their own.

And on weekends, park staffers are already presenting "Babies of Sunken Gardens," a program teaching children about young turtles, snakes and other reptiles. (Call for times.)

City officials are still working on details for more children's activities and will be for some time. They are looking into annual passes. Revamping antiquated bathrooms that now have no wheelchair access or changing tables are a top priority.

There is still plenty to get under way, but all in all, this is a great place to take your kids. Or even better, let your kids take you.

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