Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens

Tamiami RV Park at Dusk

We are settled in for the winter at Tamiami Village RV Park in North Fort Myers, Florida.  We stayed here last year for a month, but spent a part of that month back in NY when my dad was in the hospital.  We were here long enough to know we really felt comfortable here and would like to return.  While we were in the area last year we visited several (at least 10-12) other RV parks in the Fort Myers' area.  We found only one we liked as well or better, and several I'd rank from somewhat sketchy to downright scary.  Getting a seasonal spot means putting in a request by the beginning of March.  Those requests are sorted by date received, length of requested stay and whether you have been on that site previously.  In other words, it's a competitive process.  We were offered a spot this year, but not the spot we requested (the one we were on last year).  But we took what we could get and were happy to be able to stay put for a while to enjoy the warm Florida sunshine.

Home Sweet Home

Carol really wanted to be on our old site.  Every time we spoke to someone in the office about anything, she'd want to know if our old site was available.  As it turned out, last week our former neighbor on that site, came by to let us know that the present occupant would be moving to a new site because he got a larger camper that would no longer fit on the site - so low and behold our old site was available.  And yes, we moved down the row to Carol's great delight!  We will be here until late April when we start the trek north for the summer.

Now that we are settled, we have time to get out and explore the area.  Yesterday we visited Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda, about 30 minutes to the north.  We had a spectacular time!  This is my idea of the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

One of the first installations you see is the Tree Trellises.  These three rebar sculptures each have a different color bougainvillea climbing the structure.

"Tree Trellises" by Cary Stefani

On the path near the trellises is "Yellow Andy" one of twenty identical life size sculptures of Andy Warhol.  These were created to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Warhol's death.  All 20 were painted all black with the exception of the hands, face and hair which were painted in Warhol's signature bright colors.

"Yellow Andy" by Jack Dowd

One of our favorite botanical features in the garden were these Traveler's Palms.  The unique fan shape palms are so captivating.  We especially loved them because they are fellow travelers 😉.

Traveler's Palms with one of Laurie Tennent's "Botanicals" on exhibit in the garden.

As we were driving into the gardens we drove past this tree and I said, "Wow, look at that tree!  It looks like it's covered with orchids."  When we were able to walk up to it, it is in fact an Orchid Tree!

Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Hong Kong Orchid blossom

There were so many unique plants in this garden, it was impossible to attempt to capture them all.  This was one of those makes you go "WOW" plants that was irresistible.  

Dwarf Pineapple Bromeliad

Close up of the dwarf pineapple on the bromeliad above.

The gardens are located on both sides of the road, so as you walk you cross the road to the other half of the property.  One of the first sculptures you see as you cross is this 18 foot high pair of computer generated graphic designs on metal.

"Ostriches" by Yu Zhaoyang

Many of the sculpture pieces in the garden are works by Carole Feuerman, a pioneer in the Hyperrealism movement, making sculptures portraying models in a life-like manner.  Works by Carole Feuerman:

"New York City Slicker" by Carole Feuerman

"Bibi on the Ball" by Carole Feuerman

"Next Summer" by Carole Feuerman

"Monumental Fire and Harmony" by Carole Feuerman

Meanwhile back in the garden, I didn't do a great job capturing the names of every cool plant and flower I took photos of, but this gives you a sense of the wonderful range of beauty this garden has to offer.

Cycad

Panda Plant

Unnamed orchid

Bromeliad and unnamed plants

"Cherry Cola"

Exquisite compound flower blossoms

Buddha's Belly Bamboo

Unnamed succulent

There is a boardwalk out to Peace River.  This sculpture, made from 23 different pieces of lava rock is visible from the boardwalk.

"The Keel" by Kemal Tufan

Boardwalk over Peace River

Kel and Carol, Peace River 

Looking down the boardwalk towards the gardens.

"Steel Palm" by Jacob Kulin

"Steel Palm" viewed from the side.

The peacefulness of wandering in a garden is one of my favorite past times.  The combination of the beautiful art of nature and the beautiful art of man truly soothes my soul.  This was my favorite piece in the entire garden.  "Rondelet" by Lin Emery.  

I have not captured the entirety of the Peace River Gardens experience in part because our trip was cut short by an unexpected animal rescue.  As I mentioned, the gardens cross the road.  As we were leaving one side to cross the road to go to the other, we met "Buster" (I named him after Edith Ann's dog Buster.)  This dog was by the road, with his leash trailing behind and no owner in sight.  We took ahold of the leash and "Buster" was very happy to see us, hang with us, rub on us, and wait with us for his human.  The problem was, we had no idea who his human was as he was not wearing a tag or ID of any sort.  We called Animal Control and they said it would take an hour to get an officer out to us.  So we sat and waited.  

"Buster" waiting patiently

We kept hoping that while we sat and waited for Animal Control to arrive the owner would drive by looking for their dog.  After an hour, that wasn't looking very likely when a guy came by on a bike.  He passed us and then turned back and said, "Is that my dog?"  (I don't know, is it your dog?)  He comes over and says, "Hey that's my dog... he must have gotten away from my mom."  

Spike and Carol 

Turns out Buster's name was really Spike.  Less than a minute after he rides off with Spike running behind him on the bike, the Animal Control officer arrives.  We tell her what happened and she goes to offer to drive the dog home so he doesn't have to run behind the bike.  Rescue mission accomplished.  Time for a beer.  Fortunately, Peace River Brewery was just down the road.  We'll be back; to the gardens and the brewery. 🌿🍺