Bok Tower Gardens (Florida) - Part 1

Bok Tower Gardens is on Iron Mountain in Florida near Lake Wales. It is surrounded by orange groves growing in the red-brown soil that gets it color from oxidized hematite.

 The tower itself is on the summit of the mountain which at 295 feet above sea level is one of the highest points in peninsular Florida. The gardens were built by Edward Bok at his winter home in Florida. He was inspired by something his grandmother instilled in him. There is a small sign with the quote near the tower (see photograph to the left). He died in 1930 but the gardens and tower still keep the spirit of that goal alive. Enjoy the slide show below for a quick look at the tower itself.

There are grills with mosaics and stone sculptures and friezes. Birds and plants are popular topics in stone.

The grill work that is covered in mosaic adds additional colors to the tower. There are no regular tours inside the tower but there are enough doors and balconies visible from the outside to image some of the internal structure. The carillon is housed in the upper part of the tower and there are concerts scheduled a couple of times a day.

Even the top of the gate in the fence around the tower is decorated with bird images.

The tower is only the high point (physically) of the garden. The museum is informative, the food is pleasant, and the gardens are full of lush plants (and spiders and birds and squirrels). I am planning two additional posts from our visit to the gardens in November: one on tiles and fountains and another featuring the plants. There are many plants in this outdoors in this garden that we only in conservatories in Maryland.