Clermont Garden Club members visited Harry P. Leu Gardens Wednesday, April 18, 2018. Beautiful Leu Gardens is a 50 – acre garden donated to the City of Orlando in 1961 by Mr. Harry P. Leu and his wife, Mary Jane. Their love for horticulture transformed their estate into a wonderful botanical oasis with over 40 different plant collections. 
Clermont Garden Club members and quests were fortunate to have a guided tour of the gardens starting with the Tropical Stream Garden. The Tropical Stream Garden contained tropical plants like bananas, bird-of-paradise, bromeliads, calatheas, gingers, as well as other plants creating a tropical forest.
From the Tropical Stream Garden, we entered the Idea Garden. The Idea Garden had 10 gardens with various horticulture techniques and garden designs. What a great place to find ideas for your landscape.
Next, we entered the Herb Garden with both culinary and medicinal herbs. The Herb Garden was full of wonderful aromas.
We continued our walk to the Butterfly Garden. A variety of plants are planted to attract butterflies. Members saw butterflies ready to break free from their cocoon. Butterflies are released twice a day with great expectations by both children and adults.
In the Vegetable Garden, members saw fruits, berries, cabbage, greens, kale, and various other vegetables. Vegetables are donated to a local food bank.
We took a leisurely stroll through the Rose Garden, said to be the largest formal rose garden in Florida. The garden contained old garden roses existing prior to 1867, and modern roses.
The Color Garden had flowering plants that were displayed throughout the year. The Color Garden served as a beautiful backdrop to the Rose Garden.
While meandering through the park, members had an opportunity to view animal and plant statues made entirely out of legos. Artists used thousands of legos to make the designs come alive.
Leu Gardens was a wonderful experience and a memorable field trip.
The field trip ended with a magnificent lunch at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill in Orlando.
