You don’t need a tent and a sleeping bag to get out into the wild – you don’t even need to get out of Gainesville.

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens offers a chance to step outside of the whirlwind of classes, work, meetings, parties, bars, clubs and, literally, a chance to stop and smell the roses.

Visitors can take a walk down shady trails lined with lily turf and look at thousands of types of plants, everything from blooming roses of a half-dozen different colors and trees ranging from diminutive dwarf trees less than a foot high to towering oaks and magnolias and dense clusters of bamboo.

At the home of the Gators, you can encounter a Red Buckeye tree for the first time. Ohio State University fans, with all due respect to Aesculus pavia, it would be tough to come up with a less-inspiring athletic mascot.

Flowers are everywhere, and during this time of year, roses, lilies and acacias are in bloom.

“Something changes every day,” said Lisa Finch, a member and frequent visitor to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. “There’s always something new in bloom.”

The gardens, at 4700 SW 58th Drive, are large and abundant enough to take up an entire morning or afternoon, and there is plenty for the senses to take in.

The gardens are developed and operated by a non-profit educational organization, the North Florida Botanical Society, and the 62 acres under cultivation make Kanapaha Botanical Gardens the second largest of its kind in the state.

There are 14 unique collections of plants visible from the paved walkway, which include a wide variety of flora and many rare and exotic species. Garden visitors can pick up new ideas for gardening and landscaping and can purchase new plants.

On the Wild Side

Plants aren’t the only side of nature you can observe at the gardens. Its location, near Lake Kanapaha, makes this a prime spot for wildlife sightings.

“One thing I like about this garden is that there is a sense of adventure,” said Traci Jo Partin, the horticulturist and volunteer coordinator at the gardens. “I’ve seen owls, snakes, skinks, blue herons, and ibises. Every time I go out, there’s that thrill that I’m going to see something I’ve never seen before.”

Two collections feature plants that are made to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Visitors don’t have to be naturalists to enjoy a trip to the gardens. The lush green grounds make an ideal setting for picnics, quiet study, first dates or a daytime side trip with visiting parents or grandparents. They also offer an opportunity for volunteer work for students and organizations.

A new ginger garden was recently planted in a space that had been overgrown by a non-native species until UF volunteer groups pitched in to remove it.

But students aren’t the only ones who come to help out.

“We have some very dedicated people who’ve been coming here since practically when the gardens started,” Partin said.

Lawbreakers who have performed court-mandated community service at the gardens have found the work so rewarding that they have returned to volunteer in their own free time, Partin said.

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens has been a fixture in Gainesville since 1978. The name “Kanapaha” derives from the Timucua Indian words for “house” and “Palmetto leaf,” which together describe the dwellings of the Native Americans that were on the shore of Lake Kanapaha.

Founder and Director Don Goodman has managed the gardens since its inception. It now boasts more than 800 members and continues to expand.

Growing Out

Construction has begun on a new garden – the Alexander Cook Bowen Children’s Garden – that is geared toward handicapped children. This unique garden will include wheelchair-accessible hedge mazes and features that appeal to the senses of hearing and touch, such as a waterfall and a rock wall embedded with engraved designs, with deaf and blind children in mind.

“This is a handicapped garden that’s accessible to the non-handicapped, not the other way around,” said James Bowen, designer of the new garden.

The garden will be a memorial for Bowen’s 2-year-old son Alexander, who died in 2000, according to the garden’s Web site. There are also plans for a new conservatory in the making.

“We’ll have to change our map pretty soon,” Partin said. “That’s exciting to see.”

If you have the chance, take in a slice of serenity this summer at this natural wonderland. Chill out, walk around, learn something new, do some meaningful volunteer work or find a quiet corner and be reminded of what it sounds like to hear yourself breathe, uninterrupted by noise, save the trickling of a waterfall and the chirping of birds.

The Kanapaha Botanical Gardens are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from dawn until dusk. Admission to the park is $5, or an unlimited, individual membership is $30 ($25 for students).

More information is available at the gardens’ Web site