This past May, in keeping with our plans to take a special Adventure Friday involving an activity that each person really wanted to do, for our birthdays; I chose a place for the Adventure Friday closest to my birthday. Originally, we had intended to go with some friends, but it didn't work out. However, we still had a marvelous time at Cedar Lake Woods and Gardens in Williston, Florida.
Upon entering the park you will find the bathrooms, propagation tables (which if you aren't familiar is an area for starting new plants from seed or cloning plants from cuttings), and a small little shop. As you pass this entrance area, you have the kids' garden on the left followed by the succulent house. The kids garden has all sorts of interesting items from small concrete mushrooms painted up like the ones in Mario Brothers to various creatures in a tea party to a hillside covered in dinosaurs. The succulent house was full of cacti and various desert plants. Then before turning in to the larger garden complex there were a few large tortoises from Africa. The twins found them to be especially interesting as they walked about and ate their lettuce.
My favorite part of the area were the large gardens, in fact that is why I placed Cedar Lake Woods and Gardens on my list of places to visit. The park is nestled down in a bowl with Cedar Lake in the center. The most popular route through the gardens, and the one we took, starts you up around the rim of the bowl and gradually works you down into the center sections. Most of the grounds along the rim are the woods, but there are also ponds that pour down the side of the rock, and various flowering bushes. As you skirt the rim the path gives you wonderful views of the garden below as a whole. I later told Gary he would have liked it, but he wasn't remotely up to climbing all the stairs involved.
There were so many flowers in bloom through out the park, and Ruth photographed many of them for me. There were rose gardens, wildflower habitats, formal gardens, meandering gardens that followed the hilly and ever changing terrain. It took us about 3 hours to walk the entire gardens, including a stop for lunch. There are numerous picnic tables both up high and down low for picnicking. We opted to stop on a little island picnic table to watch the swan swimming around to protect his mate who was sitting on her nest, while we ate our lunch.
Among all the other gardens the one that the kids and I felt was prettiest was the Japanese garden. The transition from the last garden into this one began with a large flower bed with more than 10 different types of Japanese maples. In various hues of red and green, they were beautiful. You then pass underneath a gate and find a softly flowing stream that drifts along under a bridge before tumbling down the side of the hill to enter Cedar Lake below. It was so quiet and insulated from the rest of the gardens, it felt like you had entered a whole other world.
Finally down into the bowl area there is Cedar Lake (which is more the size of a large pond). In the center is a gazabo near a beautiful fountain. There was amazing beauty everywhere we looked. There simply aren't enough words to describe the place. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As you get ready to leave and head back up the hillside, there are three mighty oak trees. One is 500-600 years old, another around 300 years old, and a third at 100 years old. Rebecca was especially impressed with the size of the trees.
We had a great time and all would love to go again with friends or family. If you'd like to make a trip the address to Cedar Lake Woods and Gardens is 4990 NE 180th Ave, Williston, Florida. Their hours are 9:30 to 5 every day of the week. Of course, you can always call for more information at 352-529-0055. There is an entrance fee in order to help keep up the grounds. It cost $12 for anyone over thirteen, $7 for anyone between six and twelve, and free for anyone five and under.
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