Spring Hill's Secret Garden

Before new plants and flowers can bloom the dead ones must be uprooted and removed to make way for them.

People armed with gardening gloves and pruning clippers worked throughout the morning Saturday at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens.

Students, volunteers and plant enthusiasts hauled away hundreds of pounds of dead branches and leaves and added mulch to all the flower beds.

They carry out the same chores every spring, but they had to work harder than usual this weekend due to harsh weather from the previous few months.

"We're cutting back all the things that froze up this winter, and there is a lot of it," said Jeanne Erickson, who manages the gardens.

Kathy Lockwood, who manages the nearby plant nursery, called it the "worst winter in 20 or 30 years."

She recalled driving along North Port recently and seeing dead palm trees along the road. It was an unwelcome image for her. It was a sign that everyone's landscaping chores are going to be tougher this spring, Lockwood said.

The Botanical Gardens, which are located at 1489 Parker Ave. near U.S. 19 and Spring Hill Drive, has a variety of landscapes for people to touch and see.

There is a rainforest garden at the north end of the property and then a desertscape garden just a few yards away.

There also is a rose garden and a Japanese garden. Weddings, concerts and receptions have been hosted there.

The gardens are open each day from dawn until dusk, but no motor scooters or bicycles are allowed. Dogs must be leashed and their owners must clean up after them.

It is common to see students studying in the gardens or people sitting on a bench and eating a sandwich during their lunch breaks.

The areas around the some of the sites still needed some work by 11 a.m. Saturday. Candy Frey, a professional landscaper and regular volunteer at the gardens, was dragging out dead shrubbery by the bucket.

"We're just raking out the beds so we can put fresh mulch down," said Frey as she wiped the sweat off her brow and tried to catch her breath.

"I will be here until the end of time," she said about her devotion to the botanical gardens. "It makes me feel good to come out here. It's very relaxing, even though I'm working hard. It gives me piece of mind, really."

Visitors from out of town often accompany their friends and relatives to the gardens. It is quietly becoming a major tourist attraction for Hernando County. Several plants native to Florida are grown and maintained there.

"I really like that they have native plants and they have them all identified," said Carole Auker, who heads a garden club of her own in central Pennsylvania. "Here, they have plants that grow all year but where I'm from we deal with annuals mostly."

Having a public botanical garden open 12 months out of the year was a source of envy for Auker.

"This is a nice undertaking for a garden club," she said. "It's really neat to have this available to the public."