Beaches aren’t the only place to commune with nature in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. Local gardens offer carefully cultivated settings for exploration and quiet contemplation—the perfect antidote to long meeting days and nights filled with networking. Following are some options guaranteed to turn those “texting” thumbs green.
The American Orchid Society Visitors Center and Botanical Garden (561.404.2000; www.aos.org/aos) in Delray Beach is one of Palm Beach County’s newest cultural landmarks, offering a world-class botanical garden, a spectacular greenhouse, incredible water features, and thousands of orchids. The facility is available for meetings and party rentals.
Also in Delray Beach, the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (561.495.0233; www.morikami.org) has been a center for Japanese arts and culture in South Florida since 1977. In addition to a collection of 5,000 Japanese art objects and artifacts—including a 500-piece collection of tea ceremony items—the museum’s 200 acres include expansive gardens that reflect major periods of Japanese garden design, from the eighth through the 20th centuries. Guests stroll along paths that wind past tropical bonsai trees and small lakes teeming with koi.
In West Palm Beach, Mounts Botanical Garden (561.233.1757; www.mounts.org) bills itself as the county’s oldest and largest public garden. Plants from six continents are on display throughout the garden’s 14 acres, including species native to Florida, exotic trees, tropical fruit, herbs, citrus, palms, and much more.
Originally an 80-acre tropical hammock along the Indian River, McKee Botanical Garden (772.794.0601; www.mckeegarden.org) in Vero Beach is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is today an 18-acre preserve of streams, ponds, trails, and native vegetation, including water lilies and orchids. A number of venues are available for group gatherings, from an outdoor patio and educational building to the Hall of Giants/Spanish Kitchen.
Featuring an assortment of specialty garden settings, the Heathcote Botanical Gardens (772.464.4672; www.heathcotebotanicalgardens.org) in Fort Pierce includes a Japanese garden, a reflective garden, an herb garden, a rainforest display, a native plants garden, and the Palm and Cycad Walk. The facility is available for private events of up to 200 people.
