Sunken Gardens - A Truly Special Place

[JJPalmer]

My wife and I decided to visit Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg today.  I’ve been putting off our initial visit as the garden costs $12 to access and there are plenty of free gardens across the area.  I’m definitely glad I made the trip. What an amazing garden - you definitely don’t feel like you’re in Central Florida.  Hope you enjoy some of these pictures!

[JJPalmer]

First and foremost: the palms.  Sunken Gardens has an incredible diversity of palms throughout. Native Sabals, 100+ year-old royals, 40 foot tall coconuts, and the tallest majesty I’ve ever seen amongst others.  Pretty sure my neck hurts from constantly looking skyward: 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by JJPalmer

[chad2468emr]

11 minutes ago, JJPalmer said:

First and foremost: the palms.  Sunken Gardens has an incredible diversity of palms throughout. Native Sabals, 100+ year-old royals, 40 foot tall coconuts, and the tallest majesty I’ve ever seen amongst others.  Pretty sure my neck hurts from constantly looking skyward: 

 

 

 

 

I mayyyy be paying this place a visit soon. Looks great! 

[JJPalmer]

Beautiful spring colors!

[JJPalmer]

Some other cool finds include a huge Rainbow Eucalyptus, the largest Plumeria I’ve seen in Central Florida, and a rack of bananas. 

[JJPalmer]

13 minutes ago, chad2468emr said:

I mayyyy be paying this place a visit soon. Looks great! 

It’s well worth a trip! Make it a day and visit Kopsick as well!

[kinzyjr]

@JJPalmer

One of my favorite gardens to visit.  Thanks for posting!

[chad2468emr]

Made it out there last weekend! That one clump of alexandrae was just about the most exciting thing I’ve seen in a while. Never seen that many in one place and the vestigial roots they all had were fascinating! Tons of inspiration there for my future yard. 

[RedRabbit]

I visited recently and it was very impressive. There wasn’t anything that I hadn’t seen before, but they had the biggest of a few things I’d ever seen. Their royals are huge, the biggest I’ve seen anywhere.

[Billy]

9 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

 

Unbelievable! Is that King Kong or Godzilla? I mean, Alfredii or Fenestralis?

[RedRabbit]

40 minutes ago, Billy said:

Unbelievable! Is that King Kong or Godzilla? I mean, Alfredii or Fenestralis?

Alfredeii! It’s one of the larger ones I’ve seen.

[bubba]

St. Petersburg is an amazing microclimate. Both Sunken Gardens and Kopsick walk the walk!

[RedRabbit]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:35 PM, Billy said:

Unbelievable! Is that King Kong or Godzilla? I mean, Alfredii or Fenestralis?

Here’s another shot of it I took recently:

There’s at least one other one there too.

[Billy]

Wowww! What a toad! Thanks for sharing the other angle. I love the "photobombing" flamingos, croton hedge, and Dyps...er...Chrysalidocarpus? 😁

[flplantguy]

I worked there for a while from 2011 to 2012 and it was amazing. I hope they keep adding some new plants and palms.  There was a lot getting removed at the time i was there, like huge clumps of epipremnum on gigantic schefflera trees.  That area is (or was the last time i was there) powder puff trees that i planted by a little creek, and you cant tell ten years have gone by at all its completely different.  Pictures cannot do it justice at all.