FORT PIERCE, Fla. — From bonsai trees to unique and colorful flowers, a small garden in Fort Pierce offers a surplus of splendor.
"The thing I like about being here in the garden is that we call it a living museum," Vicki Hoyos, the executive director at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce, said. "Every day there's something different."
WATCH BELOW: Finding Florida visits Heathcote Botanical Gardens
No two visits to Heathcote Botanical Gardens are alike, with each new season ushering in fresh flowers and new varieties of vegetables.
"So what's changing, what's moving, what's blooming, what’s growing, and so it’s really quite lovely" exclaimed Hoyos.
The garden donated over 150 pounds of produce to local church charities last year.
"We have a vegetable garden that is maintained by some of our diligent volunteers," Hoyos said.
This tranquil oasis boasts a rich history. It started as a small nursery on Heathcote Street in Scarsdale, New York. Today, it has blossomed into the glorious gardens you see today in Fort Pierce.
Like many northeasterners, the owners of the nursery escaped the cold and moved south in 1960.
After their retirement, locals took on the fight to preserve the gardens.
It was their grit and determination that led to the establishment of the Heathcote Botanical Gardens in 1986.
"This became a staple in the community as a green space," Hoyos said. "There were several women who were very passionate about the green space, one in particular was Gloria Moore. We call her our founding mother."
A gorilla sculpture at the site is named after Moore.
"We've commemorated her as Gloria because Gloria was that kind of force in nature, and she wanted to make sure Fort Pierce had its own claim to fame with a green space," Hoyos said.
Moore saved the space from potential development, jumping into action one morning after getting a call from her friend.
"She said, 'You know what you have to do, you stall them until we get there.' She flew out of her house with her curlers and her slippers and literally threw herself in front of the bulldozers to stop them from taking over what would now be essentially almost a third of what the garden is today," recounted Hoyos.
Visionaries of the past realized the importance of secluded spaces decades before the realities of our fast-paced lives today.
The five-acre property is an intimate setting designed with an atmosphere of specialty garden "rooms."
The Japanese garden here features the largest public display of Bonsai in the country! These miniature-sized trees — some almost 100 years old — are special specimens.
"We have the finest example of a portulacaria bonsai in the world as far as we know," Tom Kehoe, the bonsai specialist at Heathcote, said. "There seems to be general agreement about that."
Several of Heathcote's bonsai trees are currently on display at Epcot in Orlando for their International Flower and Garden Festival.
"You become attached to them," Kehoe said. "I've known most of these trees for 20 something years ... They become like old friends, children like."
Every visitor can find something interesting at the gardens.
"There is something for everyone and it is right here in your backyard," Kehoe said. "Be able to walk through and feel the healing powers that happen in a botanical setting."
Whether you're young or just young at heart, a visit to Heathcote Botanical Gardens will inspire your imagination and give you a renewed sense of peace and well-being.
