A Visit to Florida’s Flamingo Gardens

Since some of you are stuck inside with the winter storm, I thought I’d send you some colorful sunny warmth to brighten your day! There is even a puzzle and you might find a few good laughs along the way. So grab a hot cuppa and sit back and enjoy your visit….

We had a delightful time visiting Flamingo Gardens yesterday. The gardens were established 90 years ago (2017).

They are also on the Reciprocal Admissions Program with the American Horticultural Society.

Hint: If you plan on visiting two or more botanical gardens in the US in a year, it is worth checking to see if they are one of the 300 in the Reciprocal Admissions Program, as  AHS membership gets you in free.

Of course the parks’ namesakes are a huge attraction…

Here’s a video of my favorite part of the flamingo section… getting to feed them!  (Just click on the ‘play’ arrow in the middle.)

What a delightful experience to get to hand feed these beautiful birds! They’re very careful not to bite the hand that feeds them.

Another favorite section for cat lovers like me is getting to see the Endangered Florida Panther. The National Wildlife Society estimates there are less than 100 left in the wild.

I wish my camera would do better on long distance photos. I am glad to see she has a nice large area to roam with plenty of green (unlike one of the nearby zoos). A distant cousin playing nearby was happy to let me pet her and get my ‘fur therapy’ in for the day.

Also for cat lovers are these cool T-shirts in the gift shop… Other than the three cats and the background pair of eyes, can you find the hidden cat images? The manufacturer says there are 10 cougars on this shirt. You can click on the picture to be taken to their answer page.

Another prominent feature of the gardens are the many peacocks roaming free.

Here’s an artsy shot of those gorgeous colors for you…

Here’s one of those gorgeous guys resting among the banana trees.

Speaking of banana trees… Their blooms are gorgeous!

Each one of those flowers inside the main pod can eventually become a banana. as each petal unfolds, it releases a new bunch.

BANANA!!

(If you want to do an instaminions pic, just click the photo)

There is also an amazing aviary where you can walk around with the injured and recuperating birds taken under Flamingo Gardens’ wing. (See what I did there?!) It’s so neat to get up close and personal with some of of my favorite waterfowl, like the spoonbill:

And pelicans:

One of these birds is not like the others. Can you guess which one? lol!

One could walk around the aviary for a long time looking for just the right shot of a beautiful bird…

And THEN you come across this sign:

Bwah-hahahaha! (Now go back and look at the previous picture… on the branch below the bird he’s trying to picture. Yep…. it happens!!! Hahahaha!)

Ok, so this barred owl is not impressed. There is a whole section in the park with a variety of birds of prey. There are also several displays of exotic birds, too..

And, of course, there are plenty of plants and flowers. I only wish there were more name tags… I don’t know what this plant was.

But the flowers at its base were pretty nifty:

The shrimp plant is aptly named… (If you don’t know why, say, “Okay, Google, find “shrimp in the ocean.”)…

Sometimes a little bit of sunlight can make all the difference in what you see:

       

Visiting parks can be great for meeting people. I came across a really fun guy at the park:

(Note: This blog claims no responsibility for bad puns!!)

Some plants just make for cool photographs…

Beautiful ground orchids:

Cattleya orchid:

Well, I hope you had a fun visit to Flamingo Gardens! I sure did!! Hopefully, we’ll get to go again while the temperatures are more moderate. I won’t tell you it was pretty chilly at first in the low 60’s, but it warmed up quickly and was a lovely day… That’d just be cruel. : )

Stay warm, my friends, and have a lovely day!

~D.Ann

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