Flamingo Gardens
| Flamingo Gardens | |
|---|---|
 Flamingo Gardens' main attraction | |
  Location within Florida | |
| Location | Davie, Broward County, Florida, USA |
| Area | 60 acres (24 ha) |
| Created | 1933 |
| Status | Open year round |
| Website | www |
Flamingo Gardens is a 60-acre (24 ha), not-for-profit wildlife sanctuary, aviary, and botanical garden located just west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 3750 South Flamingo Road, USA. It is open to the public for a fee.
History
The Gardens were originally the property of Floyd L. and Jane Wray, who in 1933 built a home and citrus grove on what was then the edge of the Everglades, where they started a botanical collection of tropical and subtropical fruit trees and shrubs. The Wray Home is now a museum illustrating a country home in the early 1930s. Guided tours are provided daily.
Pioneer City, a western theme park, was built in the 1960s across the street from Flamingo Gardens. It lasted only a few years.
Collection
Plants
The grounds contain more than 3,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants, including orchids, ferns, bromeliads, 200-year-old oaks, and 300 plus species of palms. A narrated tram ride leads through the site's tropical rainforest, native hammock, wetland areas and groves. The Tropical Plant House displays orchids, calatheas, and other plants; 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 with understorey plantings and a waterfall; and the Xeriscape Garden demonstrates low maintenance, minimally-watered gardening.
Animals
Fauna include an American black bear, otters, alligators, bobcats, Florida panthers, tortoises, fresh water turtles, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, blue-beaked ducks, flamingos, bald eagles, golden eagles, owls, peacocks, macaws, and iguanas. The 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) Everglades aviary houses one of the largest collection of wading birds in the United States. Species include, white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, American white ibis, wood storks, brown pelicans, great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, anhingas, double-crested cormorants, tricolored herons, night herons and seagulls. The aviary exhibits five native Florida ecosystems; coastal prairie, mangrove swamp, cypress forest, sub-tropical hardwood hammock, and sawgrass prairie.