Bok Tower Gardens – Lake Wales, FL

Bok Tower Gardens is a place of such beauty! We first visited there in 2009 (and I never did post photos – Doh!) I had heard of the tower and gardens, but never could justify the admission price (due to the vast number of people in my group!). So, back in October, 2009, with my husband having moved away, and a Saturday with nothing on the calendar, I decided to go ahead and make the trip there with my nine youngest children — during an event called “Boktoberfest”, offering free admission and a plant sale. :)

Bok Tower Gardens is a botanical garden and bird sanctuary, located north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It consists of a 250-acre garden, the 205-foot tall Singing Tower with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate, and a visitor center. The tower is built upon Iron Mountain, one of the highest points of peninsular Florida, estimated to be 295 feet above sea level. It is a National Historic Landmark that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. - Wikipedia

Breath-taking. Serene. While we never did tour the estate, we did savor the Florida autumn weather while meandering through the paths and gardens. The children loved the swans and jumbo lily pads in the pond surrounding the tower.

October 2009

Bok Tower Gardens – October, 2009 Ahhhh….Look how little they all were!

I LOVE this photo!

October 2011

So when I once again saw that they were having a free day (Boktoberfest/Plant Sale again), we headed that way (minus one — Gator had a thespian competition and couldn’t make it). Still impressed, and we couldn’t have custom-ordered more perfect weather.

Lefty in front of a cut-out showing how large the largest bell in the tower is

They’ve changed a bit in two years

See the jumbo lily-pads?

On our previous trip, we hadn’t known what to expect, so we didn’t know that there were beautiful open spaces for having a picnic or tossing a football, so we came better prepared this time; with a lunch, a kickball, and a frisbee.