Mother’s Day freebies and discounts

Forget those expensive flowers for Mother’s Day.

Instead of handing Mom overpriced roses and a card this weekend, spend some time together wandering among the blooms at South Florida’s spectacular gardens.

Several attractions are offering free or discounted admission this weekend.

A visit to Mounts Botanical Garden should be at the top of everyone’s botanical bucket list. Get buy-one-get-one-free admission at the 14-acre West Palm Beach garden, at 531 N. Military Trail, with a Culture Coupon Card from the Palm Beach Cultural Council. Get details at PalmBeachCulture.com/mosaic.

I also highly recommend Mounts’ annual Connoisseurs Garden Tour. I did this last year with my mother and she loved it.

The self-guided tour, which has been a Mother’s Day weekend tradition for 14 years, offers peeks into seven private gardens in Palm Beach County. Tickets are $35 and include admisson to Mounts’ new “Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea” exhibit on view through June 3. You’ll see a colorful 1,600-pound parrot fish and 6-foot puffin, among other aquatic animals, created entirely from plastic beach debris.

On the tour, one Palm Beach Gardens home is a sanctuary for butterflies, birds and bees, and another has an extensive collection of orchids and bromeliads. A tropical paradise in Delray Beach features a delightful front garden with crushed shell pathways leading to a beautifully planted large back yard with a playhouse and putting green. In Wellington, a sprawling 10-acre property has a large pond and dramatic waterfall surrounded by an array of tropical foliage, an outdoor entertainment complex and poolside kitchen, and a Miccosukee-built chickee hut and bar. There’s even a collection of vintage hot rods and muscle cars on display.

The tour is not just for mothers, but any gardening enthusiast who is looking for landscape ideas and ways to learn about native plants. Master gardeners will be on hand to answer questions.

Tickets are available at Mounts.org, which also lists area garden centers selling tickets or at each stop on the tour. Call 561-233-1757 for more information.

Another not-to-be-missed

option for nature-loving moms is Butterfly World, inside Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, at 3600 W. Sample Road.

This special palace of winged wonders is offering $10 admission to moms (or any woman who says she’s a mom). No coupon is required to get the $19.95 discount on entry.

The venerable attraction and research facility was founded in 1988 by Ronald Boender, of Oakland Park, who says it’s the largest butterfly park in the world.

The 10-acre park features lushly landscaped gardens bursting with flowers, three butterfly aviaries housing 20,000 live butterflies, three bird aviaries, a live bug zoo, butterfly museum, rare plant nursery and gift shop. Boender also founded the Passiflora Society International in 1990. The nonprofit society is devoted to this genus of plants that are an important food source for butterflies. You can see many examples of passion flower vines in the Secret Garden leading to the hummingbird aviary.

There also is a research facility, where Boender created his crowning achievement, the piano key butterfly. It took 30 years to create the beautiful black, white and red butterfly, crossbred from 30 species of longwings.

Go to ButterflyWorld.com for details.

At Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, moms get in free with a paid $20 admission today at this amazing historic Fort Lauderdale residence and eclectic garden. No coupon is necessary. Take a guided house tour, take a tram ride around the gardens (that costs an extra $4, but is worth it). Be sure to keep an eye out for the two squirrel monkeys that live on the property as well as the swan that lives in the slough.

Info: BonnetHouse.org.

Museum visits

If the weather is uncooperative, which may be the case, take Mom to a South Florida museum.

The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is offering moms free admission today, along with 2-for-1 mimosas or wine in the cafe along with free dessert with the purchase of two meals until 4 p.m.

Take a free guided tour of the exhibits “Frank Stella: Experiment and Change” and “Midnight in Paris and New York: Scenes from the 1890s – 1930s” included with admission and get a free cupcake in honor of Stella’s birthday, while supplies last.

Get details at NSUartmuseum.org.

New programs this month offer free admission and discounts at more than 80 participating venues in the tricounty area, including Palm Beach Zoo, the Cornell Art Museum in Old School Square in Delray Beach, Flamingo Gardens in Davie, Stranahan House in Fort Lauderdale, the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Frost Museum of Science, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the Deering Estate and Perez Art Musuem Miami, among others.

Go to SunSentinel.com/FreeVisits to see the deals.

Restaurant offers

If you’re dining out this weekend (who isn’t?), there are several freebies for madres.

At Carrabba’s Italian Grill, get $20 in bonus cards with $50 gift card purchase. Today, Miller’s Ale House is giving mothers a free $10 gift card and Hooters is giving away free entrees. Also today, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse is presenting mothers with free wine glasses.

With that, I toast all the moms out there. Happy Mother’s Day.