That is an acacia tree and if you opened the back door of our hotel unit, this is what you would see! We had been told if we were up early we might see monkeys! Monkeys-I hadn't known they had monkeys in Florida but these monkeys were originally from Costa Rica and lived next door at the Bonnet Gardens!
So we decided that we would visit the gardens.
We couldn't just hop over though as the main entrance was a ways away, but not far! And no we didn't have bikes for the journey!
It is kind of amazing in the midst of all sorts of development just across from a never ending beach here is this beautiful large garden! Early settler, Hugh Taylor Birch bought the land in 1895 and then gave the property in 1919 to his daughter, Helen, and son in law, Frederick Clay Bartlett when they were married. This was to be a winter retreat where he could paint and she could compose poetry and music. Frederick had studied art in Germany and his first wife was from there and died, and then unfortunately, Helen died as well of breast cancer in 1925. He only visited sporadically until he married Evelyn Fortune Lilly in 1931. Then they spent much time there and are responsible for the decorative house and the beautiful garden plan we see today. He died in 1953 but she lived to be over 100 and gave the house and garden to the Florida Trust for Preservation in 1983. To read more about this just click here.
We began our tour with a tour of the garden with a very knowledgeable volunteer in the vehicle above!
Below is the desert garden that they planned (mind you we aren't in the desert in Fort Lauderdale).
I loved this lovely piece below...
Here you can catch a glimpse of the house!
You can see the covered passage ways where we were allowed to take pictures. There is a garden in the centre helping to cool the house
Here you can see that central courtyard...
Frederick was a muralist and here you can see one of the lovely ceilings he did
They brought in carousel animals and then he painted pictures to go with the objects!
Another courtyard view...
Here is another example of objects with paintings-i loved the bright colours!!
Here is another one of his ceilings and since I had been snorkelling with turtles...
I love this display-notice the inlays. This was in the shell museum...
Adjacent was the bar...
And here was the signature cocktail that guests received...
The Orchid Conservatory...
Just love those subtropical flowers
Do you see the swan below?
Interesting apples...
Finally a monkey-we saw two here-apparently there are only three left...
A closer look...
I just loved our visit to the gardens-I totally totally recommend it! Our guided tour of the house was excellent as well and we even had a bit of a concert as one of the other guests had a similar organ in his home in England. The people who worked there were all so helpful-recommending the best boat tours and restaurants to check out.
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