Fodor's Expert Review Harry P. Leu Gardens

Just blocks from Downtown—on the former lakefront estate of a citrus entrepreneur—is this 50-acre garden. Among the highlights are a collection of historical blooms (many varieties of which were established before 1900), ancient oaks, a 50-foot floral clock, and one of the largest camellia collections in eastern North America (in bloom November–March). Mary Jane's Rose Garden, named after Leu's wife, is filled with more than 1,000 bushes; it's the largest formal rose garden south of Atlanta. The simple, 19th-century Leu House Museum, once the Leu home, preserves the furnishings and appointments of a well-to-do, turn-of-the-20th-century Florida family. A sound-and-light program is often presented in the evenings. Admission is free on the first Monday of the month.