2022 was certainly a year never to be forgotten! It brought us our first major exhibit, ZimSculpt, and doubled our growth from the prior year. We hit our 5th year milestone of being open, were awarded Nonprofit Business of the Year by the PG Chamber of Commerce, and enjoyed many meaningful art and community events along the way. We traversed the challenges of Hurricane Ian and began our rebuilding and reblooming journey, thanks to the generosity of our patrons. As we embark on 2023 we know, as with any year, there will be highs and lows but our community has proven through their steadfast commitment that The Gardens have become a treasured asset and a must-visit destination for our region. We are grateful for the support and dedication that has allowed us these successes over the beginning years of of our organization and wish each of our members, donors, participants, and repeat visitors a very blessed New Year!

We are excited to welcome you to the Car & Art Exhibit! Your purchase of a regular admission will grant you access to over 100 invitational classic and unique automobiles that tell the story of automotive design throughout the decades. Food, fun, and friends will be had at this unique event. Organizers have been working tirelessly to find the most interesting cars and trucks in the region! We'd like to thank presenting sponsor, Desoto AutoMall for making this exhibit possible.

Please join us for our 1st annual Art & Garden Soirée on February 11, 2023 from 6-9 pm. This signature event and vibrant experience benefitting Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens is a party you won't want to miss! Along with a delicious dinner and extravagant entertainment, featured artist Leoma Lovegrove will be in attendance and Master of Ceremonies and NBC News anchor, Stacey Deffenbaugh, will delight the crowd. A live auction full of exciting trips will be up for grabs. Be the first to see our "Caribbean Colors" exhibit as we unveil what's in store for spring 2023. Tickets will be on sale January 5th. Various levels of sponsorships are still available as are Corporate Table Sponsors. Please reach out to Kelly Brigham-Steiner for more details.

While you do have to don protective gear when planting, these inexpensive (at least until you get to the collector's level) and easy-to-grow plants are actually quite fascinating. Here's a little more information to help you get started on bringing bromeliads to your home garden.

Bromeliads have a shallow root system and use this primarily for balance, not for transferring nutrients. Instead, the leaves take in all of the water and nutrients the plant needs. Because of this, the plant doesn’t need deep pots or thick potting soils. They do even better in shallow pots and may grow in low soil mediums such as orchid mix, a blend of bark, sphagnum moss and other organic amendments. Some species of bromeliads even grow on rocks or trees! With more than 2,700 known varieties of bromeliads, this plant family has tons of variety...including pineapples!

It is always bromeliad season! These plants flower for months, and even when the mother plant stops flowering, she produces more "pups" to keep the life cycle going and consistent blooms happening throughout the year. The blooms of bromeliads are some of the most interesting and colorful in the plant world!

Bromeliads love the warmth of the tropics and are incredibly resilient plants, but overwatering is one of the main ways to limit their success. Instead, just add a small amount of water to the leaf cup, the very center of your plant’s overlapping leaves, once a week.

Bromeliads do well indoors and on screened lanais but will also flourish outdoors in the proper environment. In their native habitat, most bromeliads grow under the cover of a tree canopy. Therefore, they are not adapted to being exposed to direct sunlight. Many bromeliads will scorch and lose their color in direct sun. There are, however, bromeliads that enjoy bright, direct light and will thrive in full sun. A general rule of thumb is the thicker the leaves, the more sun it needs/the thinner and more delicate the leaves, the less sun it needs.

Our Garden is home to hundreds of unique varieties. Come check out the beautiful design elements incorporating these tropical specimens ...see if you can spot the one called Hannibal Lecter! Don't forget to stop by our plant sale area and pick out one of your own!

Members, please join us for this exclusive, members-only event, "Wine, Cheese, & Sculpture Please" on January 24th at 2:00 pm. Just before the hurricane, we welcomed back our three fully restored Carole Feureman Sculptures: Bibi on the Ball, City Slicker, and Next Summer. To celebrate their return, we would like to offer a behind the scenes sculpture tour for our members. Please join our docents for a more in-depth tour of the world class art that we have in our collection an stop by the gift shop for a glass of wine to toast our beautifully restored works of art.

Your membership contributes to the creation of a beautiful botanical and sculpture garden for the enjoyment of guests of all ages. You are important to us, and we want to thank you for your support by hosting special events to enhance your garden experience.

The sculpture walk will meet at the ticket booth at 2:00 pm and the wine and cheese will follow. Please RSVP here.

The following business partners donated trees with items ranging from $150-$1200 in support of our Trees for Bees Raffle during Gardens Aglow. Their product donations allowed us to raise over $7000 toward our reblooming efforts so that we can improve the ecosystem for our pollinators. We appreciate everyone that purchased raffle tickets that made our first tree raffle a success!

From stringing lights to parking cars and singing carols to setting up campfires and everything in between, we could not have had another successful Gardens Aglow without our dedicated VOLUNTEERS! A special thanks to our Men of the Lights group who toiled for months to prepare our light displays, Charlotte High JROTC who assisted with parking, Charlotte High Student Government Association that donned costumes and filled stations, and the Gator Wilderness Camp School and Charlotte County Children's Theater who indulged us with songs of holiday cheer. These, along with the 1,000+ volunteer hours served, helped us to ensure that our community had a safe and magical holiday experience. Whether you were here for just one night, or all twelve, your time and energy made a difference!