Shorten Winter with Florida Gardens

October 6th, 2015

Some of the leaves are turning already, and the nights are getting noticeably chillier.

Our February landscape doesn’t look like this.

You know what that means, right?

End of another growing season. And after that, winter.

I’m not a winter fan at all, especially the parts that involve skidding on icy roads, helplessly watching polar vortexes kill the borderline-hardy specimens, and shoveling snow.

It’s ironic how I don’t mind shoveling compost or digging soil, but I really don’t like shoveling snow.

The only good thing I can say about this pending winter is that at least the black flies will be gone.

One coping strategy that helps is getting out of here for at least a week or two – preferably some place where the warm sun still shines even in January.

My wife, Sue, and I have gravitated to Florida the last few years, and as you might suspect, we used some of that snow-bird time to check out Florida gardens. (Heading to central Florida yourself? Check out the 3-bedroom, pool-equipped villa our daughter, Erin, rents there.)

What a tonic it is leaving the frigid black ice of central Pennsylvania for the palm trees and blooming fragrance of central Florida. It’s like instant growing season.

That region happens to have a nice collection of public gardens within day-trip driving range of one another, too.

The rose garden at Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens in January.

I’d love to show you six of them if you’re interested in shortening winter by a week while the rest of central Pennsylvania freezes its buds off. Lowee’s Group Tours and I have put together a trip to the gardens of central Florida for Tue., Feb. 2, through Tue., Feb. 9, 2016.

We’ll jet to Orlando for an 8-day, 7-night gardener’s winter get-away that includes visits to Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens, Sarasota’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (my favorite of all Florida gardens), McKee Botanical Gardens in Vero Beach, Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce, Hollis Gardens in Lakeland, and Bok Towers near Lake Wales.

We’ll also take a backstage tour of the hydroponics gardens at Epcot Center’s Land Pavilion, spend a day checking out Florida’s native plants and wildlife at the Merritt Island National Refuge, eat some of the best strawberry desserts ever (they’re in season down there then), see a school of manatees, and have a free day to visit any of the Disney World parks (ticket included).

To sign up or get more information, email Chrissie Kelly at Lowee’s Group Tours at CKelly@lowees.com or call 717-657-9658 or toll-free 1-888-345-6933.

The cost is $1,995 per person double, including airfare, lodging, transportation, luggage-handling, admissions and 13 meals.

Or check out the detailed itinerary with signup sheet on Lowee’s website or the day-by-day itinerary in my George’s Talks and Trips section.

Some 25 people already are signed up to go, but we have room for maybe 10 or 12 more. Signup deadline is Dec. 1.

If you’d like to read more about the gardens, check out a past post I wrote on “Where the Plants Are Still Blooming.”

If you’d rather just look at pictures, see the Gardens of Central Florida that’s posted on this site’s Photo Gallery section.