Annual event attracts record crowd
Andrew Norris said he liked the flowers, but it was the Tyrannosaurus rex Sunday at Leu Gardens that really caught the toddler’s eye.
Andrew, almost 3 and wearing a T-shirt printed with dinosaurs, and his parents, Greg and Beth Norris of St. Cloud, were among thousands of people who converged on the Orlando gardens Saturday and Sunday for the annual spring plant sale.
Record attendance of 13,070 over the two days of the sale was buoyed by the gardens’ “Dinosaur Invasion” exhibit, which features models of the prehistoric creatures around the 50-acre site, Assistant Director Keri Byrum said. On Sunday, plant lovers ignored a forecast of rain, and the weather rewarded them by staying dry.
“It’s just so fun to see this many people interested in plants,” Leu Gardens Executive Director Robert Bowden said.
About 1,000 people visit the gardens on a normal weekend day, Byrum said. Admission was free for the sale.
This year was the first that visitors could see Orlando’s young Survivor Tree, which came from a Callery pear tree damaged during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center. The tree was saved and replanted at the memorial in New York City. Every year since 2013, three communities that have endured a tragedy are chosen to receive a seedling from the tree, a symbol of resilience and hope.
Orlando’s tree, spindly when it was planted in early February on the lawn overlooking Lake Rowena, already is leafier and nearly 5 feet tall. The city, which owns Leu Gardens,