Finding Florida : Sunken Gardens

Remember the Groupons post I did for Free Homeschool Deals?  I talked about how we got a family membership to Sunken Gardens for a measly $25 and use it to get into other botanical gardens as well.  We have come to love this little gem nestled in St. Pete and visit it often as we can.

The paths are wind through the park in a natural progression.  First, you walk through the exotic birds area with the tall bamboo where they do yoga classes on the weekends.  Madison remarks every time  " I wish we lived closer so we could do that!"  There are picnic tables nestled among the bamboo trees where we normally eat our lunch.  So calm and serene amidst a bustling city.

The exotic birds are located in this area.  Whether or not we stop to look at this depends on the amount of people already located in the area.  Some people take great pleasure in trying to get the birds to talk which gets annoying rather quickly. Best to walk around the area and move on if there are people already loitering.

There is a lovely river that flows through the entire place chock full of koi fish. These fish are huge to say the least.  Naturally, they come right up to you as they are used to being fed for sure.  I believe that you can buy fish food to feed them in the lobby where you get your admittance sticker.  We have never fed them.  That is something that the kids have to pay for out of their own money.  Surprisingly,  they never want to do it.  The water is circulated throughout the entire park to keep the water from becoming stagnant.

Our favorite place to hang out is also the lowest point in the park.  The alligator snapping turtle pond.  Why the children gravitate to this is beyond me.  This silly turtle doesn't do anything .  They enjoy talking about the lowest point factoid and that it started with a sinkhole.  In case you don't know, sinkholes are a common occurrence in Florida.  Not that my kids have ever seen one but they certainly enjoy talking about it.

From here  is the Japanese Gardens and the desert area with the gopher tortoise area.  The bougainvillea growing up the wall is astounding to be sure.  All of this is centrally located next to the bridal area which Madison enjoys running through always. Loads of butterflies can be seen in this area all the time.  There is also a great statue here that you can take your picture with to announce you're at Sunken Gardens.  A fun thing to do is to spin in around to see how fast it can go.

You can see why we love to stop in and do nature study here.  The best part is that the membership to here allows you access to any botanical garden in Florida including Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales and Leu Gardens near the Orlando Shakespeare Theater!  Here's a great deal for you too!  Hop on over to Groupon to sign up . It's completely free! You get deals for your city delivered everyday. Then hop over here and buy the same Sunken Gardens pass that I have for $25!  That's a whole year of fun!  The deal is only live for the next 5 days so act fast!

If you live in the Tampa Bay area and happen to have a MOSI membership, I must tell you that you get reciprocal benefits from April 1-30 which gets you in FREE!  Have fun!

Sunken Gardens

Address:1825 4th St. N.
St. Petersburg, FL
33704Phone: (727) 551-3102
Rental Information: (727) 551-3106

This post may contain affiliate links.  All the opinions expressed are mine.  By clicking on the links in the post, you enable me to take my children on fantastic field trips!  Thanks!