Gardens-at-a-Glance September News

Signature Events of the Southeast chooses the top 20 events out of 14 states to recognize annually and Gardens Aglow was a winner!

Gardens Aglow is a signature event supporting the educational programs of Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens. This 12-night long enchanting annual event, where acres of beautifully adorned gardens sparkle with thousands of lights, creates the ideal holiday excursion. Guests can roast S'mores by the fire, savor a warm cup of cocoa, sing carols, shop the holiday shop, and even spend quality time with Santa Claus himself.

New displays are added each year and live music every night will be a featured offering in 2024. There will also be a VIP tent available for companies and groups to host their holiday parties amidst the festive atmosphere (inquire here). This year’s Gardens Aglow will be held December 12-23rd from 6-9 pm. Tickets will be available on our website beginning Oct 1st!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for this award-winning, community-loved event please reach out to our Community Engagement Specialist for more details.

We are excited to announce our first cacao fruit at The Gardens! The first of several cacao trees to flower, this specimen is located in the Butterfly House and was grown from a fresh seed collected in Puerto Rico. It will take about 6 months to ripen.

The fruit are known as pods, some of which are red and others are golden yellow. When cacao is processed, it is called cocoa and then the cocoa becomes what we refer to as chocolate.

The cacao tree is native to the Amazon region, and the first known domestication was by the Aztecs and Mayans thousands of years ago. Spanish explorers brought the plant to Europe in the early 1500s. Now the production of cacao into chocolate is a multi-billion-dollar business throughout tropics, especially equatorial Africa.

Cacao is pollinated by midges, a type of very small flying insect. In Florida and the rest of the tropics, no-see-ums, a minuscule biting insect does most of the pollinating. Next time you indulge in a chocolate bar, you can thank those pesky pests and the fruit that started the process!

Even though we received the highest ranking in The State for our Arts & Culture grant for ZimSculpt field trips, sadly budget cuts eliminated the funding. The Gould Family Trust Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, and Linda Tetrault graciously stepped in to ensure our students don't miss out. These generous donors have provided resources for 2100 students to visit The Gardens for free and experience rich cultural programming through our upcoming ZimSculpt exhibition. Our goal is to bring 5000 students in total! Just $10 per student provides the staffing and materials to make this hands-on learning experience possible. If you would like to help us inspire and educate our region's youth, please click on the link below!