Heathcote Botanical Gardens

Heathcote Botanical Gardens

Entrance to Heathcote Botanical Gardens

210 Savannah Rd.
Ft. Pierce, Florida

772-464-4672

Heathcote Botanical Gardens

AT A GLANCE:  Heathcote Botanical Gardens
Parking	Free, onsite parking.
Amount of time needed to peruse exhibits:	1 hour
Amount of time needed for gift shop	30 – 45 minutes
Dress code	Dress respectfully.  Shorts and tank tops are fine, but don’t reveal too much skin.  It’s just not tasteful.
Be sure to…..	Make a game and try to select the one bonsai tree that you’d like to take home.  It’s not as easy as it seems.
Nearby/other establishments to visit	·         Family-oriented beaches and parks ·         Manatee Observation and Education Center (Manatee Observation and Education Center review) ·         McKee Botanical Gardens (McKee Gardens review) ·         McLarty Treasure Museum & Mel Fisher Treasure Museum McLarty Treasure Museum & Mel Fisher Treasure Museum ·       National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum (National Navy SEAL-UDT Museum)
Walkability, general downtown area / amount of traffic	You will need a car, or other transportation.
Safety, in terms of type and number of crimes committed in general area	Generally safe.  Please keep valuables out of site and lock your car, to keep the honest people honest.

I argue that souvenirs keep us together, as a society.  Have you ever admired a coffee cup or t-shirt that is branded?  The conversation would go like this:  That’s a cute mug (or t-shirt or mousepad).  Where did you get it?  The owner might tell you about wonderful gardens or educational zoos, but they will get excited that they can relive their vacation.  They might also tell you about a cause that they’ve taken up, because they moved from the “Heard of” stage to the “Familiar with” stage (see Reptile World Serpentarium)Souvenirs allow us to talk and connect to strangers in a non-threatening way, and help them in Stage 5 (see McKee Botanical Gardens), to relive their fun times.  How do we get souvenirs?  We shop.  Shopping is therapeutic on several levels:

• Shopping gives us something familiar to do when we travel, and helps us to connect to a new place. 
  
•  Shopping allows us to recall fond travel memories. 
• Shopping breaks the ice and gives a safe opportunity to talk to people you don’t know very well.
• Shopping is a powerful way to financially support causes and places that are important to you through admission fees and perusing the gift shop.  Remember, we put our money in things that mean something to us, hence the phrase:  put your money where your mouth is.

•  It helps us understand, and incites a crazy desire to protect an area.   

If your traveling companion has an issue with the amount of time spent in gift shops, enlighten that person.  Through shopping, you become connected, reflective, open, and supportive.  Good job, you!

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You’ve heard me say this before:  shopping is important.  

Three words that describe Heathcote Gardens:

Cute / Colorful / Whimsical

Heathcote Botanical Gardens are a great place to spend an hour or two.  You may be disappointed if you plan your entire day around it, as there is just not enough there to flesh out that amount of time.  Stop in and visit it in conjunction to nearby places covered in this blog:

Name of Place	Amount of time needed (minutes) to visit	Distance to Heathcote Gardens (miles)	Driving time to Heathcote Gardens (minutes)
Manatee Observation Center / Vanishing Mermaid Gift Shop	60 – 90 minutes	3.5	7
St Lucie Aquarium / Research Center	60	4	9
National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum	180 (3 hours)	7	15
McKee Botanical Gardens	120 (2 hours)	14	24
Mel Fisher Treasure Museum	60	30	48
McLarty Treasure Museum	60	32	49

Map of nearby points of interest

Mission statement from the Heathcote Gardens website:

HEATHCOTE BOTANICAL GARDENS is dedicated to serve as a resource of horticultural, botanical and ecological knowledge to educate the public by maintaining a collection of quality plants, and by providing cultural, educational and recreational activities that attract constituents from a broad geographical region.

HEATHCOTE BOTANICAL GARDENS is committed to the conservation of green space by serving as a partner to the greenways system along the Treasure Coast, by demonstrating the highest standard of environmental sensitivity in a public garden and park.

Gate at Heathcote Gardens

If you are looking to kill a few hours before or after lunch, visit Heathcote Botanical Gardens.  Heathcote Gardens are a garden with an amazing selection of bonsai and specialty gardens.  Refreshingly, it doesn’t try to be something it’s not.  The gardens themselves will take under an hour, with most of your time spent in the bonsai garden.  To impress your friends, the correct pronunciation is “bone sigh.”  You sound like an insider and supporter of Florida gardens.  Way to go!  Per their website, Heathcote Gardens have the largest tropical BONE SIGH collection in the United States.

The gift shop is a delightful and whimsical space.   Step into the Heathcote Gardens gift shop, and chances are a smile will inch its way onto your face without you even knowing.  When you stand in this gift shop, you instinctually appreciate that you are in a place that reveres gardening, birds and butterflies.  I needed to walk around the shop several times to make sure that I saw everything.  This is not a large gift shop, and could accommodate four visitors without anyone annoying anyone else.

The book selection is focused on gardening or identifying insects, flowers, and trees.  Being a gardener myself, I consider this a varied and appropriate collection.  I tried growing vegetables when we first moved to Florida.  Everything died, although we did get an eggplant from a plant that I had potted up three summers ago.  Talk about being frustrated.  I still grumbled about my lack of vegetable luck when we entered the gift shop when we first visited Heathcote Gardens three years ago.  The volunteer on duty spoke up:  “This is a good book on gardening here, this one that I’m looking at.”  She held up Vegetable Gardening in Florida, by James M. Stephens, of the University of Florida and State Extension, the vegetable specialist in charge of educational programs for home gardeners.  I walked out with practical and timely advice, all for $16.95.  With my vegetable confidence restored, I left Heathcote Gardens happy and hopeful.  My vegetable grumbling had ceased.  Which leads me to my next statement:  leave your tired and grumpy self at the door.  There’s no room for it here.

Scarves, bird / butterfly baths, wildly colorful decorative pieces and refrigerator magnets are displayed near the book nook.  The items here are designed to complement your home, office or garden.   The shop carries inventory that you would most likely to purchase for yourself.  It’s time for you to indulge and keep the universe in balance by being connected, reflective, open, and supportive.  The state of the universe should be your priority, and anything you can do to help it out, well….  I don’t think you need me to tell you this, but please shop.  The universe depends on you.  There are many items here that either create or inspire your love of flowers and gardening.  Although this is a medium-size place, but make no mistake.  The gift shop does what gift shops are supposed to do.  They make you want to:

•  Stop
• Stay
• Shop (I added that one)
•  Buy a sassy hat (I added that one, too)
• Plan your return

If you something you like, buy it. The Heathcote Gardens have a great online presence, yet they offer no online shopping.  If you want to view their gift shop page, navigate your way to <ABOUT>, then <GIFT SHOP>.  You’ll see a nice photo of the book section along with a list of the items for sale.  If I had to come up with a “room for improvement” idea for the gift shop, it would be to carry more branded items (t-shirts, totes) for adults and children.  Speaking of children, the Heathcote Gardens gift shop is not a place where there are items for children to buy for themselves.  I saw no items marketed for children, besides the cute, branded plush bears.  Likewise, if you are looking for a gift for a young child, you will need to go elsewhere.

Are you hungry yet?  How about some lunch?  Let’s go to Cobb’s Landing, 2 ½ miles north of Heathcote Gardens. 

200 N. Indian River Dr.
Ft. Pierce, FL  34950

772-460-9014

Head west (turn right) out of the parking lot, then go north (make another right turn) when you hit Highway 1.  Finally, go east (yet another right turn) on Avenue A.  We are going to Cobb’s Landing  (Cobb's Landing, Ft. Pierce) which is across the marina from the Original Tiki Bar (see St. Lucie Aquarium).  Cobb’s Landing is a fun and casual restaurant with great food and adult beverages.  All ages are welcome here.  I recommend the lobster bisque and the tuna salad sandwich.  As you’re

sitting, sipping and enjoying the breeze off the water, take a look at the many t-shirts available with the Cobb’s Landing brand.  Behind the cashier’s counter are more t-shirts, koozies, and baseball hats.  Florida is nudging you to “shop on.”  After all, the fate of the universe is depending on you.  Besides, you become connected, reflective, open and supportive of Florida’s gift shops.  A day well spent.

Dear Gentle Readers,

The blogging software I use is still giving me fits when I try to add photos.  I've included a few in this blog; there are many more at "Meet Me in the Gift Shop" Facebook page.

Sincerely,

B