Friday, February 14, 2014

Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

(Note: this is a image heavy post.)


Bok Tower Gardens, near Lake Wales came well recommended, so you know we just had to pay a visit. We went along with Charley and her hubs, Frank.  The weather could not have been better, not hot, sunny, brilliant sunshine, wonderful!

The only alligator of the day:


I was fascinated by this "wall" of 30 different varieties of air plants, Tillandsia .  They were hanging by fishing wire. Shown here, only half of the wall.


This staghorn fern, Platycerium, is one of the largest I have ever seen.


This pool at the Visitor's Center was quite lovely.  Note the pots of succulents on the shelf above the fountain.


Inviting, is it not??


The azaleas were just beginning to bloom.


This is an azalea, that dark portion reminds me of an orchid.  Isn't this gorgeous?


The saucer magnolias were blooming, the blooms were huge!


This is a powderpuff bush.  It reminds me of the bottlebrush, but this is round as can be, where a bottlebrush is longer, like a brush to clean bottles (imagine that! LOL).


I found this gate tucked in under some large trees.  There is a path behind it.  Man checked it out, the gate opens. We did not have the opportunity to follow the path as we were on a walk with a docent.  Gosh, I hate paths not traveled.  What was back there?


This little guy dug that peanut out of the mulch in just seconds.  I caught him running away with his treat, as the movement in his front paws shows. Funny, I did not want to share, but, I got the feeling he was going to be as greedy as he could.  Not sharing, no way!


Bok Tower, holds a carillon, which is functional, there are daily concerts.  Seen here from the reflecting pool.


More reflections.  You know I just LOVE reflections.


The tower has this golden door, reflected in the water.  Thank goodness for almost no wind! The ripples were caused by the large koi swimming nearby.


This is the burial place of Edward William Bok (born October 9, 1863 in Den Helder, Netherlands; died January 9, 1930 in Lake Wales, Florida), his grave is surrounded by white flowers.  Charley and I agreed, this was a bonus for us, as we are both family researchers and have seen a cemetery or two or three, in our day.


The Singing Tower, 205-foot neo-Gothic and art deco, designed by architect Milton B. Medary and crafted by noted stone sculptor Lee Lawrie.  There are 60 bells in the carillon.  The day we visited they did not have a live performance/concert, rather it was recorded.  Made no matter, it was delightful to sit on one of the many benches provided and listen.  They played several pieces, Charley loved the Ragtime Bells, and I think I agree with her, that piece was a true delight to listen to.

By the way, you too can listen to the Ragtime Bells, by clicking through to this site.  Then, come on back and we will finish our tour of the Bok Tower Gardens.


There are a few sculptures around the property:


There is a bog area, with bird viewing, called "Window by the Pond".  This photo was taken through the glass window, shocked me that it even turned out.  A great blue heron.  There was also what we believe was a tricolored heron, but, it was sitting in such dark shade that the photos were marginal.


All in all we had a delightful visit and want to thank Charley and Frank once more for telling us about the gardens and meeting us there.




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1 comment:

Lisa Wallen Logsdon said...

Great photos Carol! Especially enjoyed the photo of the powder puff bush. We had one of those in our back yard when I was a kid. It had "thorn bugs" on it that made it look like the bush had rose thorns. We used to play with the harmless bugs. In fact they had the thorn bugs in a small aquarium at the state fair this year in the agricultural building and it was really neat to see them as it brought back many happy childhood memories. I haven't seen thorn bugs in probably 50 years until this week. Loved that powder puff and remember lightly rubbing it across my face!