The bell tower building contains 60 bells and was finished in 1929.

Looking straight up, it’s pretty tall.

The details in the openings at the top have different birds. The gardens started out as a bird sanctuary by Edward Bok. The 30 year editor of the Ladies Home Journal magazine would spend his winters in Lake Wales and developed the gardens with the help of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr ( his dad developed Central Park and Prospect Park in New York) and many others.

The door no one enters. To tour the inside of the bell tower, you need to have a high level of membership to go inside on one of the very few tours a year.

The lily pads were amazing.

Beautiful purple buds growing around the lily pads.

I was hoping to see frogs sitting in them but no luck there.

I’ve never seen these blooms before.

Looking down over a citrus grove, the bell tower sits on one of the highest points in central Florida.

The gardens were decorated for Halloween.

When did black and white pumpkins become so popular? Some had the spray paint starting to peel off. I guess I like the traditional orange ones.

The spider was pretty cool, made with pumpkins and branches.

I’ve been saying I want to visit Bok Tower Gardens for the last 5 years. I finally made it there on a rare random Monday off. It’s just under an hour and a half from my house so I need to get there more often. It was a beautiful day and very few people there. I took a ton of pictures so more to come.

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