Two wonderful gardens! Leu Gardens taught me to buy a second battery for my digital camera. The battery died halfway through the gardens. So frustrating. I always bring a spare now. Live & learn.
Toni

Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales (Yeehaw Junction exit off the Turnpike)are well worth the visit. Very serene. The reflections in the moat surrounding the bell tower make some very interesting photos. If you go, also find Spook Hill near there. You drive to the bottom of a hill in a residential area, put your car in neutral, and it rolls back up the hill.Very weird.

Meg

I lived in South Florida between 1966 and 2000.

I have visited both the gardens you mentioned, (H. Leu Gardens in Orlando, and the Fairchild Tropical Garden) but the very best garden in South Florida, in my opinion, is Flamingo Gardens in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

Their giant trees were not harmed during hurricane Andrew, so the gardens are very shady and cool, even in the middle of summer.

If you are that way again, I highly recommend you checking it out - Marian

We visited both the Lew Gardens and Bok Tower Gardens a year and a half ago, and both were well worth the trip. We managed to visit the Lew Gardens when the roses were in peak bloom. We spent several hours there and were almost the only ones in the garden. It was so incredibly lovely and my husband and I were struck by the fact that thousands of people were just miles away at Disney World, missing all of this trnaquility and beauty. Something for everyone!

Try visiting the "other Florida," north Florida. There is a wonderful garden in Tallahassee, McClay Gardens.

another that is one of favorites is Marie Selby gardens in Sarasota ,, not the biggest, but elegant and beautiful, with beautiful grounds and a great gift shop/nursery.

it specializes in orchids and epiphytes and is great .. the grounds are filled with banyan trees, palms and its located on a salt water estuary where you can walk on a ramp thru a mangrove thicket

well worth a trip michael