| Mounts Botanical Garden | |
| Type: | Botanical |
| Location: | 531 North Military Trail West Palm Beach, Florida |
| Map: | Florida |
| Coords: | 26.6854°N -80.1135°W |
| Opened: | 1954 |
| Owner: | Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service |
| Website: | http://mounts.org/ |
Mounts Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in West Palm Beach, Florida.[1] It is Palm Beach County's oldest and largest public garden with over 7,000 species of tropical and subtropical plants from six continents, including plants native to Florida, exotic trees, tropical fruit, herbs, citrus and palms. Mounts Botanical is part of the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Department, in partnership with the University of Florida / IFAS[2] and the nonprofit Friends of the Mounts Botanical Garden, Inc.
Botanical plantings began shortly after the Mounts Building was built and opened in 1954. Then Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Director, Marvin Mounts,[3] desired to create a tropical fruit tree arboretum on the adjacent three acres. This vision was never realized, but many tropical fruits were planted and a few remain to this day.
In 1975 Clayton Hutcheson, Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Director, had a vision of creating a Horticultural Learning Center on the three acres surrounding the Mounts Building, which housed the Extension Service. This initiative was successfully supported by many local plant-focused organizations and volunteers and was created in 1983.[4] Today’s Garden was formed by a public-private partnership of Palm Beach County and the Friends of Mounts Horticultural Learning Center in 1985. Ten additional acres were added to the property in 1985, bringing the total acreage to fourteen. In 1986, the Friends voted to officially change the name to Mounts Botanical Garden for a more clear understanding of the organization and its mission driven purpose.
In 2004, the Friends funded a research grant to the University of Florida to produce a Master Plan to guide the Garden’s future development. During 2004 and 2005 Hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma destroyed 70% of the property’s mature tree canopy and virtually shattered the original Garden. Since 2006, The Friends and Palm Beach County have restored both the lost tree canopy and the Garden.
Windows on the Floating World – Blume Tropical Wetland Garden officially opened on June 18, 2017. Designed by artists Mags Harries and Lajos Héder, in collaboration with WGI’s landscape architecture division, Windows on the Floating World features open-gridded, 4-foot wide walkways on the surface of the wetlands to give visitors the feeling of “walking on water.” Within these walks are four “windows” planted with aquatics and changed out with rotating and seasonal botanical exhibits growing from submerged containers.
The Garden of Tranquility was opened in the Spring of 2018. This serene garden experience was created by natural elements of stone, wood (bamboo) and living plant materials in an artistic Asian inspired fashion. The garden simulates a Zen-like garden although it is not meant to be authentic or of strictly Japanese elements.
Presently, in 2024, the garden covers 20 acres (8.1 ha) with 25 display garden containing more than 7,000 species of tropical and sub-tropical plants.[5]