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Part of the Pinewood Cultural Park, plans include gardens for children and for people with disabilities.
By JULIANNE WU
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 2000
LARGO -- Where gnarled branches, wild Brazilian peppers and overgrown air potato plants once grew, eight beautiful gardens now dot the landscape at Florida Botanical Gardens.
On Saturday and Sunday, the public will have its first glimpse of the gardens, which lie just north and west of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, following McKay Creek. They are part of Pinewood Cultural Park along with the 21-acre historical Heritage Village, the art museum and the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service.
"This is a dream come true," said Judy Yates, director of the County Extension Service and overseer of the gardens. "It's been 10 years in the making."
So, what can visitors expect to see?
Crossing a pedestrian bridge behind the Extension Service and headed southeast, they will see:
Palm Garden, which has a playful Florida beach theme displaying a variety of palms indigenous to the area.
Celebration Garden, a formal garden with a gazebo and an open grass plaza surrounded by a fountain and sculptures. It actually contains four other gardens: the jazz, rose, cottage and topiary gardens. This area can be rented by the public on a first-come, first-served basis, in four-hour increments. Arrangements can also be made to rent the entire Florida Botanical Gardens for a large event. A complete price structure and rules for usage are available from the Extension Service. Inside Celebration Garden are the next four:
Jazz Garden, which contains greenery, plants and sculptures, suggests the movement and colors associated with American jazz.
Rose Garden, where 15 to 20 varieties of roses grow, including tree roses, climbers and hybrid teas.
Cottage Garden, a small garden in the southwest corner of the Celebration Garden reminiscent of an old-fashioned English garden with perennial flowers of all types.
Topiary Garden, adorned by topiary trees in the shapes of whimsical bears, birds and other creatures. It's in the southeast corner of the Celebration Garden.
Tropical Courtyard, which contains covered porches, plant-laden arbors and shade-giving oak trees surrounded by walls.
Tropical Walk, a gentle waterfall and trees typical of Florida including saw palmettos, bamboo trees and a dozen kinds of palms including Mejool, Sabal, Queen and Windmill. Follow winding paths to see this garden, which also contains lush exotic flowers such as gingers, orchids, violets, Mexican shrimp plants, hibiscus and seasonal blooms.
Two pedestrian bridges now connect parts of the 182-acre Pinewood Cultural Park, one from the Extension Service to the Palm and Celebration gardens on the north end of the complex and one between Heritage Village and the art museum on the south end of the county property. A third will be added as additional funds are raised, Yates said.
"I have watched the plans of this project from the beginning," said Mary Stout, chairwoman of the Area Beautification Council of Upper Pinellas County, whose 10 local garden clubs support the Botanical Gardens.
"I am absolutely thrilled to have this type of horticultural teaching experience for young people," said Stout. "At the same time, it can be a quiet oasis of beauty for older people -- people of any age, actually."
Temporarily, a well supplies water to the gardens, but eventually, water runoff from the Walsingham Reservoir in Walsingham Park across the street will be piped to the location.
"Also, everything we put in is xeric," Yates said. "We put similar plants together which take the same amount of water. Our ultimate goal here is water conservation."
Tampa-based Beers Construction Company is the construction manager for the gardens.
Earlier in November, a pair of 6-foot buttonwood trees were planted, Yates said, as part of the Michigan-based Champion Tree project. Founded by David Milarch, the goal is to preserve the nation's biggest, tallest, strongest and oldest trees that would otherwise die out.
"The trees are actually cloned, grown from tissue culture of the largest and best of their species," Yates said. "They will have the same genetics as the champion trees."
The Botanical Gardens, which are being paid for with $25-million from Penny for Pinellas funds and some private funding, eventually will include a children's garden and play area, herb gardens and a sensory garden for people with disabilities. Plans also call for a new welcome center and restaurant, a garden education center, a nature center, greenhouses, a conservatory and a maintenance facility.
The Florida Power Corporation gave the Botanical Gardens $25,000 and an anonymous Tampa donor pledged an $800,000 endowment, Yates said. The gardens also hope to raise another $8-million to $9-million from private and corporate sponsors.
"This is such a unique opportunity," said Vernon Bryant, a Pinellas County horticulturalist and extension agent. "You just don't get to create a botanical garden every day and combine it with art and history."