by Lucy Tobias, copyright©2020
Sculptures and Gardens – an unusual combination.
I inhaled deeply and got ready to ask this question:
“What do you want garden visitors to take away with them?”
My pen was poised and my reporter notebook open.
But it turns out that Adriana Quiñones, Executive Director of Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens, was a bit of a mind reader.
Before I could even exhale and ask the question she waved both arms wide:
“I want this garden to be indispensible to this community.”
It doesn’t get any better than that.
What does indispensible mean?
“Everyone finds a place here that satisfies them,’’ said Quiñones.
For starters there is something quite satisfying about combining sculpture and gardens.
“Nature brings out artistic expression – so gardens and sculpture are a good fit, Quiñones said.
Sculptures and gardens – The garden’s founders, Roger and Linda Tetrault, made the commitment to combine the two. And the results are stunning. Two recently added pieces by Carole A. Feuerman serve as an example.
A sculpture called “Next Summer” sits in a large pond and shows a swimmer on an inner tube looking down – is she thinking summer thoughts?
Feuerman specializes in hyperrealist sculptures. And she succeeds. I walked right up to another one of her sculptures “Bibi on a ball” and I have to confess I came really close to speaking to her. She looked so real it was a tad on the scary side.
Yet somehow these and all the other sculptures fit right in and resonate well with meandering paths, a huge pond plus flower and plant collections.
Speaking of ponds, their large pond contains koi with apparently unlimited appetites. You can purchase a cup of food, toss it into the pond and create a feeding frenzy. Fun!
The garden’s signature sculpture is “Steel Palm” that used a 50-million year old palm frond fossil for inspiration. The Gardens’ “Steel Palm signature sculpture was commissioned by Roger Tetrault and designed and fabricated by Boston artist Jacob Kulin.
This is the most photographed sculpture in the gardens.
My personal favorite garden spot is the Sensory Garden. Inhale the rosemary scent from their rosemary bushes and check out the raised beds of herbs. The Sensory Garden is a work in progress. The goal is to engage all the senses – sight, smell, touch, taste and sound.
The Loveland Center, with the mission of helping individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is helping to expand the experiences in the Sensory Garden.
The Gardens have places to walk and things to see on both sides of Riverside Drive. Wear good walking shoes. Hat recommended.
Address: 5827 Riverside Drive, Punta Gorda, Fl. 33982.
Summer Hours: Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Prices: $13 for adult, $11 for 65 and up, $9 for students to age 18 and under the age of five admitted free.
All of the gardens are being made ADA accessible.
Family membership is $100 a year and individual membership is $50 a year. The gardens have reciprocity with other gardens and frankly, their annual prices are cheaper than anyone else.
“Join us and then get to go other more expensive botanical gardens,” Quiñones advised.
Good advice.
Since we live in COVID-19 times, the garden staff will follow CDC guidelines for regularly sanitizing all “touch areas” as well as wearing masks, using protective shields at registers, and using gloves as appropriate.
Masks for visitors are up to visitors but CDC guidelines recommend wearing masks in public plus doing social distancing, namely six feet apart.
Easy to do social distancing with all the expanse of these gardens – plus there is a boardwalk out to the Peace River and a new bridge that opens up a wetland area. There are many different walking and viewing experiences available – so I’d allow at least 1 ½ to 2 hours for a visit.
Like bridges? Want to leave a legacy? Here is a naming opportunity for you. Have your name or a loved one’s name on the new bridge. I walked the bridge. It is beautifully built.
If you want your name on the new bridge call the Gardens at 941-621-8299 or Email: mailto:[email protected]
Near the new bridge is a new butterfly house. Oh my. This butterfly house is full of inspiration, caterpillars and butterflies. Local butterfly club volunteers keep the butterfly house humming.
These gardens are organic. They keep evolving. If you visited when they first opened, like I did, coming back again will be a whole new experience.
Roger Tetrault died January 27,2020. In his memory the garden vision with sculptures and gardens continues to grow and expand.
Preliminary plans for a new visitor’s center, café, restaurant and conservatory and in the green light phase and will happen in a few years.
In the dream stage – a children’s garden to be built near the new visitor center and a new building to house sculptures, to be built on land purchased next to the gardens.
I’ll be back to this satisfying place combining sculptures and gardens. A year’s membership is looking really good.
Book Alert: Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens are included in my forthcoming book The Zen of Florida Gardening. Copies can be pre-ordered now.