Mounts Botanical Garden

This past week in southwest Florida was brilliant, finally time to put on shorts and cruise on my bicycle, also a good week for a road trip. My sister Cass and I drove to the east coast to tour three well known gardens; Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach , Morikami Japanese Gardens and AOS (American Orchid Society) Botanical Garden in DelRay Beach. My trips to the east coast in recent years have been limited to flying in and out of Miami and driving down to the Keys. I had forgotten how lovely the beaches are and how cool it still is to roll down AIA looking at the McMansions and high end landscaping.

Since we were going to West Palm first we drove across on 80 and stopped at Lake Okeechobee in Clewiston for lunch at a sweet little spot called the Tiki Bar, a Roland Martin marina and restaurant. It is an open air, pole barn type structure with plenty of seating, a large stage, a great big bar with simple homemade bar stools. There are docks for those arriving by water, you can sit on the deck and watch the lock operate as large boats move through the inter coastal waterway. The food was really delicious, the decor funky and Jimmy Buffett was on the stereo a good beginning to our trip.

Mounts in located at the Hutcheson Agricultural Complex part of University of Florida (UF) extension service and houses a Master Gardener Help Desk. Allowing a couple of hours for a leisurely stroll through the nine different gardens will give you plenty of time to see everything. They are experimenting with an information system through your cell phone, ( Oncell System) by calling their number you can get a brief introduction to the garden and as you proceed numbered wooden stakes correspond to the phone tour.

The gardens include fragrance garden, tropical forest, palms, herb garden, butterfly garden and a veggie garden. My favorite plant was the beautiful Angel's Trumpets with their papery, hanging blooms from a linen color to the dusty apricot they were a sight to behold.