Bells at the Bok Tower Gardens

Yesterday we took the day to visit the Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida.  (Thank you, Christopher and Lindsay, for the Botanical Gardens membership you bought us this past year.  We were able to get into the Bok Gardens free through their reciprocal agreement with other National Historic Gardens.)

The Bok "Singing Tower" with its 60-bell carillon.

Pinewood Estates, which is known for its wonderful tile work,
peeks out from the trees as a path leads from this garden
bench to the front entrance.

The Bok Gardens are known for two things: the "Singing Tower" which plays daily carillon music, and the Pinewood Estates and Gardens, built from 1929 - 1932 by Bethlehem Steel vice president Charles Austin Buck.  (Yeah, I know.  Buck and Bok!)

We left Dunedin about 9:00 a.m., drove through very heavy traffic, and arrived in Lake Wales at approximately 11:00 a.m.  We purchased tickets for the Noon - 1:00 p.m. viewing of the Estate, so that gave us just enough time to beat the bus crowds by having an early lunch in the Garden's Blue Palmetto Cafe.

The cafe is located next to one of the special areas called the Pollinator Garden.  This area is filled with beautiful shrubs and flowers that attract those insects that keep our food chain thriving and our gardens blooming.  As we enjoyed lunch, we watched swarms of bees and an entire kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies happily dance from flower to flower doing what they do best: pollinate the neighborhood.  We were amazed at the number of butterflies present.  In addition to the colorful Monarchs, we also saw both black and white butterflies busily at work.

The entire estate was decorated for Christmas
with lots of poinsettias.

A Christmas "tree", made entirely of bromeliads set in a wire rack,
presented a festive view from the dining room.

After lunch we took a liesurly stroll through the garden to the Pinewood Estate.  We were somewhat disappointed that not more was in bloom, but we were assured that if we returned in Spring, the landscape would come alive again by that time.  What was apparent was that the garden and the estate were decked out for the holidays.

Amaryllis add a touch of color to the landscape. They bloom
from December until early March in Florida.

Some plants that we see in abundance in Florida were the poinsettias and the amaryllis.  Both flowers were used extensively to decorate the grounds and the house.  Each year the design team of the Amaryllis Club decorates the estate for the holidays, choosing a year and a theme to highlight.  This year they chose 1936, and the story line was that Mr. Buck had invited his children and grandchildren to spend the holidays at Pinewood.

The Loggia, or family room, presents a place
for the family to relax, read, and play games.

Even the dog has an elaborate bed!

Each room was extravagantly decorated with holiday decor; yet under all of the glitz and glitter, we still could see the original ornate woodwork and wonderful tiles that adorn the house year round.

Heavy woodwork and massive doors reflected
the opulence of the house and the 1920's style
of architecture.

The interior of the house with dark, massive,
ornately-carved woodwork contrasted with
intricate 1920's plaster work.

After the house tour, we walked to the Bok Tower in time for the 1:00 p.m. concert.   The Bok Tower is named for Edward W. Bok. Bok was an American author, editor of The Ladies Home Journal, philanthropist, and peace advocate.   He established Bok Gardens in 1929 as a gift to the American people.  The 50-acre garden was designed by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

Graceful, shady paths lead to the moat around the tower.

The star of the garden is a 205-foot marble and coquina "Singing Tower," a structure designed to hold  the 60-bell carillon to provide music to the garden.  The bronze bells were manufactured in London; the smallest bell (highest tone) weighs 16 pounds, and the largest bell weighs over 11 tons.  The Tower has employed a carillonneur since 1928.  Geert D'hollander is only the fourth carillonneur (starting in 2012) since that time.  He went through extensive musical training at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium, and he studied carillon at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium.  He also has won numerous first place awards for his skills as a carillonneur.

We found seats in the garden in front of a video screen whose live-broadcast allowed us to watch D'hollander as he played a selection of Christmas carols.  The bells are played at an organ-like structure through a series of paddles which are pressed down to activate the clapper in each of the bells.

The music was wonderful; we also were blessed with a sunny day in the low 70's, so our time in the gardens was very pleasant.  After the concert, D'hollander came out of the Tower and answered question from the crowd.  I kept thinking of my friend Bonnie's son, Kyle, would would have loved the whole performance and probably would have enjoyed a conversation with the performer.

The original instrument is now on display.

One bell is hooked up to show how the
instrument moves the clapper in the bell.

After the concert, we made a final stop at the Hammock Hollow Children's Garden.  While the garden had some great places for children to climb (including a giant nylon "spider's web") and three different xylophones, we really thought that the Children's Garden in Green Bay is equally good.

Overall, we had an enjoyable day.  We were told that the peak bloom time is from February 1 - March 31, so we will have to consider returning there during that time.