The Flamingo Gardens is located in Fort Lauderdale and is a 60-acre Botanical Garden and Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary.   It features over 3000 different species of native plants and trees that are rare, exotic, tropical, and subtropical in nature.  It also serves as home to one of the largest collections of wildlife in Florida, including alligators, bobcats, eagles, otters, panthers, peacock, and yes, even flamingos.

Flamingo Gardens was established in 1927 and continues to be one of the oldest attractions in South Florida. Founded initially as an orange grove by Floyd L and Jane Wray, the botanical gardens serve as home to 18 “Champion” trees.  Champion trees are the largest of their species, and that includes the largest tree in Florida.  Dotting the arboretum is a series of specialized botanical gardens.  These include a butterfly and hummingbird garden, a croton garden, and a bromeliad garden.

A 200-year-old Live Oak that is dripping with species of orchids and epiphytes serves as a natural hammock and a centerpiece of the gardens.  It is here what Floyd L and Jane Wray built their own weekend retreat, the historic Wray Home Museum, in 1933.  The home boasts being one of the oldest residences in Broward County.  The building was restored in 1991 so that it would depict the house as it was in the 1930s.

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The Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary is nestled in and around the gardens.  The inhabitants include over 90 species of animals and native birds of Florida.  Most of the residents are either permanently injured or considered non-releasable.  There is a Free-Flight Aviary that stretches a half-acre, that plays host to over 250 wading birds of over 45 species.  And a house, the Bird of Prey Center, that houses one of the United States’ most extensive collections of raptors.

The land is currently owned by the Floyd L Wray Memorial Foundation, established by Jane Wray in 1969 to honor her late husband.  Flamingo Gardens itself is presently owned and operated by a non-profit organization, Flamingo Gardens, Inc.  The Wray’s mission remains the mission of the Gardens today—that of preserving the property for future generations to enjoy the history of the Florida Everglades, including is flora and fauna.

Flamingo Gardens has one of the last natural jungle growths located in South Florida.  The neighboring Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary is known for being home to over 90 native species.  The property itself has been listed as a Broward Cultural Heritage Landmark with the original Wray home, also being listed as a Historical Landmark. 

Mr. Wray wrote about the gardens in 1939—

You are welcome to Flamingo Gardens and are invited to spend as much time as you desire, my only request being…that you help us preserve this beauty spot for others.”