Port St. Lucie Botanical Garden
2410 SE Westmoreland Blvd. Port
St Lucie, FL 34952
AT A GLANCE: Port St. Lucie Botanical Garden
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Date of Visit:
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Saturday, May 27, 2017
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Parking
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Plentiful, onsite
parking
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Amount of time needed
to peruse exhibits:
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45 – 60 minutes
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Amount of time needed
for gift shop
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15 - 20 minutes
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The “must have”
souvenir
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Branded tote bag,
which will make you the owner of the few in existence.
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Online shopping
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No
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Kid friendly shopping
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Yes
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Kid friendly
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Yes
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Dress code
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Casual, but not
tacky.
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Be sure to…..
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The gardening club is active, and publishes an awesome
newsletter. Sign up for it.
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Nearby/other
establishments to visit
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So as not to drone
on and on, I give you “TripAdvisor link:
32 activities in Port St Lucie”
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Walkability, general
downtown area / amount of traffic
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The path around the
Gardens is wheelchair and stroller accessible. This is a good walk if fettered by knee /
leg issues, because it’s flat.
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Safety, in terms of
type and number of crimes committed in general area
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Generally safe, but
keep in mind that it’s up to you to protect your possessions. Stow valuables out of sight and lock your
car.
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This
is one of those places that I needed a sign or something to indicate that this was
the place we were supposed to be.
Luckily, the sign I was looking for was front and center in the gardens.
Port St Lucie Botanical
Garden (PSL Gardens) Mission Statement:
- PROTECT an ecologically diverse mosaic of natural plant communities adjacent to the North Fork of the St. Lucie River
- RESTORE this area
- ·ENHANCE this area
- MAINTAIN the parks natural biological diversity
- PROVIDE compatible recreation.
How
does the Port St Lucie gardens compare with others that we’ve visited? In some ways similar, and in other ways not
at all. The Morikami Gardens give us a
good example in how PSL gardens are not at all alike. From my blog:
“A
walk through the Morikami Japanese Gardens does wonders for calming one’s
soul. Bridges and paths are created in
true Japanese style with the intent to slow one down to contemplate nature. This is not a garden to rush through, since
the experience of moving through the lush greenery makes up part of the overall
encounter.
“This
is the difference between a Japanese garden and a botanical garden. A botanical garden strives to have perfect
specimens representing individual species.
A Japanese garden is more of a consumptive experience. A stroll through this Japanese garden created
an almost perfect harmony of smell, sound, and shadow. To be in the Morikami Gardens was to be one
with nature. “
It’s
made for ambling, running and skipping; they encourage us to laugh and share
information with each other in a laidback and casual environment. The park itself reminded me of a Florida golf
course: flat, like the rest of the
state. The gentle paths are paved, and
wind through the park’s different sections.
This creates an atmosphere that is ideal for wheelchairs, strollers, or those
with hip / knee issues. Additionally,
restless children can wander ahead, but not out of sight. The PSL Gardens aren’t
analogous with that description.
It’s a
gentle walk; nothing strenuous, and is good for
an “after lunch” trip when you want to do something, but not too much. Caveat:
there must be shopping. PSL
Gardens fit all of the requirements.
Wander,
unwind, and shop. Repeat if necessary.
If asked to
describe PSL Gardens in 3 words, this is what I would come up with:
Encouraging: I get the vibe of “c’mon in, make yourself at
home.”
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Educational: The website provides their results in benchmarking studies, which are available online to other botanical gardens:
https://publicgardens.org/benchmarking-studies
· Community Involvement: through weddings, parties, seminars, how-to-garden advice for visitors shopping for landscaping
I found little, if any, info on gardens. All of the web info I found relates to hosting weddings, graduation parties and other events, such as plant sales.
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| Setting up for a wedding |
Here’s the PSL Gardens community event calendar: http://www.pslbg.org/calendar.html. In this context, it’s as if the gardens are “something to do” while waiting for the main event to start. That’s ok. Many folks get a relaxed and peaceable sensation while in beautiful gardens such as this, in addition to discovering new things in the Garden, like this funky blossom on a cactus or the large birds that nest in the trees here.
Five levels exist, in talking about visiting or vacationing. In my blog regarding McKee Gardens, I brought to light the way scholars determine and measure a trip (link: http://www.meetmeinthegiftshop.com/p/blog-page_46.html) .
"Scholars agree to five independent steps to a vacation, or trip, away from home:
1.
Planning, through the Internet, word-of-mouth,
brochures
2.
Traveling from your home, either by car,
train, bus, plane
3.
Experiencing your destination, for example,
through shopping, eating at local restaurants, hiking, swimming
4.
Returning home
5.
Remembrances of your trip, enough so that you
will plan a return visit"
According
to this matrix, the 5th step of tourism is to reflect on the past
trip. How easy to do at a plant
sale. Look out your window and see the
new tree, shrub or flower purchased at the Gardens and smile with the memory of
meandering in a tranquil garden on a beautiful Florida sunny day. I
love a botanical (or other) garden for having plants and trees for sale on the
premises.
In the meantime, here's a quiet reminder of shopping etiquette:
If you buy a
gift for someone else, you must buy something for yourself.
It keeps the universe in balance.
It keeps the universe in balance.
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| Branded tote bags are the "must have" souvenir at PSL Gardens |
You
don’t want to be the cause of an unbalanced universe, do you?
I mentioned in an earlier blog that the Reptile World Serpentarium does an unbelievable job assisting visitors to evolve in their attitudes toward snakes (link: http://www.meetmeinthegiftshop.com/p/blog-page_20.html). It doesn’t matter how visitors felt about snakes walking in the Serpentarium, because their experience there heightened their awareness about reptiles. I admire the PSL garden small gift shop, because it also strengthens its own brand and takes visitors from stage 1 to stage 4 (see below) in just a few square feet:
Heard of => Knowledge of => Care
about => Stewardship of
There’s beauty to be found wherever you look, and it starts at the stained glass entrance, and continues to the banquet room and the entrance hall. It doesn’t stop at the gift shop, which is delightful. Although small, it provides items for sale that tie into the Garden’s brand. Let’s step inside and enjoy garden-themed items that enable us to learn about the …” ecologically diverse mosaic of natural plant communities adjacent to the North Fork of the St. Lucie River” (from the Garden’s mission statement), how to identify and protect them, and how to spread the word.
It’s
never too early to shop ahead. Shop now
for the Holidays, an upcoming birthday or anniversary, or a lil’ something for
a co-worker. You’ll find it all here. Here’s what I mean:
Have a child to buy for? Buy these things:
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| Fun Books |
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| Colorful Umbrellas |
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| Stuffed Animals |
A lil' something for a co-worker? Try:
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| Coffee Mug (top shelf) |
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| Note Cards by local artists; ceiling fan pulls |
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| 3-D pop-up greeting cards |
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| Organic bee products for skin |
What about something for yourself? Look at:
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| Jewelry (the good stuff behind the glass counter) |
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| Wind Chimes, or big and hefty Wind Gongs. Additionally, the glass plate toward the bottom of the photo would look good in anyone's home. Why not make it yours? |
Here's other unique items from the gift shop:
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| Locally made jewelry, and cd's from local musicians (on top shelf) |
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| Ornaments and titles regarding Port St Lucie's history |
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| Remember to pet the Shop Dog before exiting |
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| Head outside for more garden shopping |
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| Trees and shrubs for sale |
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| Cute garden items for sale |
Shopping continues outside in the garden area and on the surrounding patios. Everything they sell, both inside the gift shop and outside under the veranda, points back to the mission statement. It’s easy to pick up on their vibe, because they do so many things well.
However, being who I am and what I do, here's what I have to say if asked for suggestions for improvement:
- · Add an online presence for gift shop
- · Have inexpensive “adult” things for sale in gift shop; i.e. refrigerator magnets, and branded wearables. While they don’t sell shot glasses, they do offer coffee mugs. I’d like to see a variety of styles, so I could pick up a couple of them as gifts and have each of them be unique.
- · Offer books on the history of gardens and/or the group that sponsored the gardens into being
- · Need more books and smaller items to replace the stone / wood carved animals display. Can still sell them, but put something bright and colorful in that front display that draws people in. Right now it’s too sedate, because it's not noticeable and it’s the “petting allowed” sign that grabs the attention.
- · Put wind gongs against wall and introduce another table display or short bookcase with the top of the bookcase used for display items.
- · Have a NICE comments book by register, to get in touch with what visitors want to buy. Maybe have a punch list, and visitors circle the one they’d like to see in the gift shop.
- · Create a mailing list and send garden-theme postcards monthly or quarterly. Make them of nice quality that encourages folks to keep and display them. This brings visitors full circle back to the first step of the tourism model.
This
is not one of the larger gardens in Central Florida, but that’s ok. It’s a great place to spend a lazy afternoon
(though in the summer, go early before the swampy heat settles in). If you’ve done other activities and had
lunch, and want to do something “kind of” productive, go here.
I enjoyed my time at Port St Lucie Botanical Gardens, and I hope you will, too.
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