If the most eclectic thing you’ve ever seen in a Florida garden is a bougainvillea, then you’ve been denied some truly colorful sights. After all, what’s a common shrub compared to a 30-foot piece of pop art from Roy Lichtenstein, or a gigantic reclining Fernando Botero piece, or a cobalt Dale Chihuly heron that practically vibrates with color?

These steroidal sculptures, installed among the rare palms and cycads (as well as, for the more delicate Chihuly pieces, in Windows to the Tropics Conservatory), are just a few examples of what you’d have seen if you visited the  Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Coral Gables this past year. As part of its “Art and Flowers” program, the award-winning botanical garden unveils a new installation annually during Art Basel week in December. (The 2008-9 installation has not yet been announced.)

Exhibiting this world-class work has a practical purpose for Fairchild: “It draw[s] many people to the garden, all of whom will also be exposed to the importance of tropical plant conservation," says Mike Maunder, Ph.D., Fairchild's executive director.

The money collected from the program’s entrance fees not only supports the garden’s ongoing efforts with educational outreach and awareness, but with the conservation itself—Fairchild houses the National Palm Collection, the largest in the U.S. and also keeps up internationally important collections of rare tropical fruit and cycads.

While the collections are available for viewing during the days along with the plants and flowers, the best time to visit this living monument, which is accredited by the American Association of Museums, is on Thursday night during season (December - May), when the grounds open from 6 - 9 p.m. with special lighting. You can also dine at The Veranda Restaurant, or bring in your own wine and cheese picnic, and relax for hours in this 83-acre paradise.

Indeed, epicurean pursuits are greatly encouraged in the premier sculpture gardens around the state. For instance, at the Norton Museum of Art Central Sculpture Garden in Palm Beach, the 3,988 square feet garden, replete with plantings and sculptures alike, can hold 250 guests and is often utilized for standing receptions.

With two loggias on each side, a central fountain and majestic majul palms, the Central Garden, which has access to every gallery in the museum, is also a tempting place to take a cool break with a box lunch during the day.

Ditto the Italianate Courtyard at the back of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, which itself was built using the metaphorical blueprint of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. With its 19th and 20th century replicas of ancient Greek, Roman and Baroque sculptures, many from the renowned Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples, Italy, the Courtyard sculpture garden is an outdoor companion to the interior collections of Titian, Veronese, Rubens, Hals, and Velazquez; decorative arts; and a collection of Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Of particular note at the far end, a full-size bronze sculpture of Michelangelo’s David is often silhouetted against the blue Florida sky, and in the center, the fountain of Oceanus and the Fountain of the Tortoises (modeled after the original in Rome) are the perfect backdrop for wedding photos. 

Indeed, the Courtyard is the backdrop for a number of special events throughout the year, from weddings to galas such as the Museum’s own Ungala Gala and private cocktail receptions. 

The Abraham and Dorothy Frischer Contemporary Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, on the other hand, is not a complement but a centerpiece. This 2.5-acre showpiece houses major contemporary work from internationally celebrated sculptors such as Alfreda Halegua, Ernest Shaw, Juan Jose Sicre and Fonchen Lord. With bench seating and underground lighting, the Frischer is meant to be enjoyed for its own sake day or night. The large-scale pieces certainly deserve reflection worthy of their size and global importance.

If you’re more interested in the three-dimensional outdoor art that artists of international renown—but local roots—have created, I suggest meandering over to Winter Park. Here, you can wander the grounds of the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens.

Though born in Moravia (now the Czech Republic), important sculptor Polasek “retired” in Winter Park, not only bringing many of his pieces with him (and buying back more), but continuing to work in mediums including clay, wood and stone. Today, more than 200 of his sculptures, in materials ranging from bronze to cement, whimsically dot the subtropical, Osceola Lake property.

Just as varied and diverse is the Contemporary Sculpture Garden at the Crealdé School of Art, a not-for-profit community arts center also in Winter Park. More than 60 Florida artists, including Johann and Kristin Eyefells, Cheryl Bogdanowitsch and Michael Galletta, are represented in this tranquil garden that details the art school campus.

You can arrange for tours or discussions by contacting the Crealdé office, but since all exhibits and lectures are open to the public, you also have the option of curating yourself. Or, if you’re so inclined, you can also walk inside and sign up for one of the classes taught by the faculty of 40-some professional artists.

After all, along with creating awareness and appetite, a place for social gatherings and a means for contemplation, that’s the most important mission of any sculpture garden—to inspire.