Flamingo Gardens

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Flamingo Gardens
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The main attraction of Flamingo Gardens
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Location within Florida
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Flamingo Gardens (the United States)
Location3750 South Flamingo Road, Davie, Broward County, Florida, United States
Coordinates 26°04′25″N80°18′46″W / 26.073728°N 80.312859°W / 26.073728; -80.312859
Area60-acre (24 ha)
CreatedJanuary 2, 1927;98 years ago (1927-01-02) [1]
StatusOpen year-round
Website FlamingoGardens.org

Flamingo Gardens is a 60-acre (24 ha) botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary, located just west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and north of Miami at 3750 South Flamingo Road, Davie, Florida, United States. It is open to the public for a fee.

Contents

History

Located in South Florida, the Gardens were originally the property of Floyd L. and Jane Wray, who in 1927 built a weekend home, citrus grove, and laboratory on what was then the edge of the Everglades, where they started a botanical collection of rare and unusual tropicals and subtropical exotics, fruit trees and specimens collected from around the world. The non-profit Floyd L. Wray Memorial Foundation was established to preserve the property and its gardens for future generations. [1] The Wray Home is now a museum illustrating a country home in the early 1930s. Guided tours are provided daily.

Collection

Plants

The grounds contain more than 3,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants, including 200-year-old Southern live oaks, and 300 plus species of palms. A narrated tram ride leads through the site's tropical rainforest, native hammock, wetland areas and exotic flora. The gardens are home to nationally noted collections of heliconias, gingers, calatheas, bromeliads, flowering trees, palms, crotons, aroids, succulents, orchids, ferns and cycads as well as a mango orchard, and pollinator's garden.

On the grounds is a jungle-like arboretum featuring 23 Champion trees, [2] which may be the largest in the state or the country including a massive Enterolobium cyclocarpum ( ear tree ). The arboretum contains one of the largest collection of non-indigenous champion trees in the region. Among the specimens include pink trumpet tree, yellow poinciana, dynamite tree, Indian jujube, bread nut tree, wampi, and white sapote among others. The Xeriscape Garden demonstrates low maintenance, minimally-watered gardening.

Animals

American flamingo in an enclosure in Davie American Flamingo SMTC.jpg
American flamingo in an enclosure in Davie

Fauna include American flamingos, an American black bear, [3] North American river otters, American alligators, bobcats, Florida panthers, turtles, peacocks, fish crows, bald eagles, owls and other birds of prey. Additionally, exotic species like African spurred tortoises, keel-billed toucans, parrots and macaws are kept.

The 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) Everglades aviary houses one of the largest collections of birds and animals in the United States. Species include American white pelicans, brown pelicans, wood storks, American white ibises, roseate spoonbills, great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, fulvous whistling ducks, anhinga, double-crested cormorants and laughing gulls. The aviary exhibits four native Florida ecosystems; coastal prairie, mangrove swamp, sub-tropical hardwood hammock and sawgrass marsh.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Flamingo Gardens. "History of Flamingo Gardens". FlamingoGardens.org. Flamingo Gardens. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ Flamingo Gardens. "Botanical Gardens". FlamingoGardens.org. Flamingo Gardens. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
  3. ↑ WPLG (September 5, 2013). "600-pound bear finds permanent home in S. Fla". Local10.com. WPLG.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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