Attraction of the Week: Florida Botanical Gardens Holiday Lights
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The Florida Botanical Gardens, located in suburban Largo, is a year-round nature oasis featuring 30+ acres of maintained gardens. Highlights include a tropical fruit garden, a succulent garden featuring desert plants, a palm garden, and a butterfly garden. You will also find 60 acres of natural pine flatwoods and wetlands, which provide habitat to over 150 species including bald eagles and gopher tortoises. I love walking here and enjoying all the exotic plant life – it’s a gorgeous place to get back to nature for an hour or 2. It’s free too which makes it all the more appealing. While living in Wesley Chapel, I often took a stroll here on my way home from the beach to decompress from the touristy crowds.
The best time to visit is during the winter months. First off, the weather is much more tolerable – think 70’s and opposed to upper 90’s with high humidity. As a resident of the metro for more than 3 years, I learned that fall and winter is the best time to stroll around any garden or preserve. Second, the gardens are transformed into a winter wonderland during the festive Holiday Lights in the Gardens celebration. This is one of my favorite light displays in the Bay area.
Admission is free, although a suggested donation of $10 per person for anyone age 12 is in place. Donations for the event go towards maintaining the gardens so at least your money goes towards a good cause. If you live in the area, I am sure you want to help ensure that this beautiful garden is always free to the public. In addition to more than a million lights, visits from Santa, special holiday treats, and live music are on the schedule.
This is a great affordable family event for anyone residing in or planning a vacation to the Bay area in December. By this time of the year, the temperatures will have finally cooled down enough to enjoy a cool night stroll. There are plenty of great photo opportunities, although it can be hard to capture great photos with all the crowds. Yes, this is a really popular event and at times, it was hard to even navigate through the crowds.
Christmas in the tropics!
One of the unique aspects of this display over others is that you will get to see unique tropical Florida themed light displays. Really, this is what I love best about the setup here. I want to feel like I am in Florida, not the Midwest since the weather is warm.
The incorporation of many “unique to Florida” themed displays includes flamingos, palms, and other tropical plants like poinsettias and exotic birds. It’s fun and whimsical and very colorful. The displays are a bit different from what I grew up seeing in the Chicago area and I love the festive regional touch. I have seen so many gopher tortoises and exotic birds at the many beautiful preserves while living here so it was fun to see this themed section.
The best part of the event was seeing these gorgeous palms decked out in green and red. Nothing says tropical vacation to me quite like palm trees. They really did a nice job here. I love the green
I also loved the desert themed displays – a bit weird as this is Florida, not the Southwest but it is one of their annual gardens. As someone who lived in Arizona for years, I really appreciated the beauty of this particular display.
Of course, you will also get to see lots of trees lit up in bright colors. The display is nice and clean and the lights are well organized.
The standout display here that really caught my attention is the beautiful tree with the train in the Wedding Gardens. I really love the colorful lights on the main tree surrounded by pretty white lights. And the train adds a nice extra festive touch.
Another thing I really love about this display is the organization and attention to detail. Everything is laid out really nicely and themed. It’s obvious there was a lot of effort putting into stringing up the lights nicely. These trees looks so gorgeous.
This palm tree with the LED train display surrounding it was another one of my favorites.
Full Details
Address: The Gardens are located at: 12520 Ulmerton Road. Largo is a Tampa suburb located just south of Clearwater and 40 minutes or so from the city. I recommend also checking out the Lights at Largo Park (a free event) featuring over 2 million lights. You might as well hit both while you are in the vicinity.
Admission: Suggested donation is $10 per adult. Children under 12 are free. Parking is free.
2025 Dates & Hours: The display will run from November 28th-Jan 3rd. Hours are 5:30pm-9:30pm. Note this is a very crowded events. I recommend a weekday stroll if you want to avoid hefty crowds.
Pricing: $10 per person donation. Kids under 12 are free.
Accessibility: Most of the paths are ADA accessible. Wheelchairs are not provided.
Dogs: Allowed, but must be on a leash.
UPDATE: Mike and I have explored all over the Bay area in our 3 years living here. I recommend taking a look at my detailed Bay area guide for more info on the best attractions in the area. Winter is a great time to enjoy all the beautiful parks and attractions in a cooler setting.
