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The Garden Party

Bok Tower Gardens

13 years ago

"Carillon bells have a cup shape and are cast in bronze. They are hung stationary and bolted to steel or wooden beams; only the clappers move. The clappers are connected by mechanical linkages to the keys of the keyboard. The carillon at Bok Tower Gardens consists of 60 bells ranging in weight from 16 pounds to nearly 12 tons."

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Here is a link that might be useful: The Carillon

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Comments (7)

west_gardener
13 years ago
It is interesting to read that only the clappers move and that the clappers are mechanical linkages to the keys of the keyboard.
Lol, I collect bells, especially cow bells. I luv that sound. In my world the whole cow has to move to sound the clapper. Very interesting.
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Janis_G
13 years ago
Don, Bok Tower or The Singing Tower is just as beautiful
as the picture.
I've been there many times.
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Thanks all for your responses. It is great to have such a community of plant experts on this forum. I've never been to the Bok plant sale but will have to go sometime. I was not that impressed by the plants in the gift shop but I assume the plant sale is much different. I really enjoy the place, if the weather is nice it is a great place to relax. Too bad it is so far from Tampa. David.
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http://www.boktowergardens.org/calendar/2009/10/17/boktoberfest-plant-show-sale Bok Tower Gardens will host the first annual Boktoberfest Plant Sale with free admission on October 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The inaugural event will feature live music, German food, craft beers and fun for the whole family including tree climbing, face painting, butterfly house tours and more. Sponsored by the Lake Wales News, Urban Trust Bank and the Honorable Patricia Combs Fawsett in memory of her late mother, Mary Combs, a longtime volunteer at the Gardens. Ã¢ÂÂBoktoberfest celebrates the start of FloridaÃ¢ÂÂs gardening season,Ã¢ÂÂ explains David Price, GardensÃ¢ÂÂ president. Ã¢ÂÂWeÃ¢ÂÂre excited about providing this opportunity for plant lovers and gardeners to find a wide variety of Florida garden plants - the rare, the unusual and the beautiful.Ã¢ÂÂ GardensÃ¢ÂÂ members will have first choice to purchase plants from 8 to 9 a.m. Some of the plants for sale will include orchids, palms, trees, tropical fruits, Florida natives, ferns, bamboo, roses, heliconias, bromeliads, tillandsia air plants and water lilies. Education will be provided by Master Gardeners, plant societies, garden clubs and the UF-IFAS Extension Service including Dr. David Shibles, Polk CountyÃ¢ÂÂs residential horticulture agent and extension agent emeritus Tom MacCubbin. Florida's foremost expert on lawn and garden issues, MacCubbin is a popular radio host who has authored numerous gardening books.
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I lived in South Florida between 1966 and 2000. I have visited both the gardens you mentioned, (H. Leu Gardens in Orlando, and the Fairchild Tropical Garden) but the very best garden in South Florida, in my opinion, is Flamingo Gardens in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Their giant trees were not harmed during hurricane Andrew, so the gardens are very shady and cool, even in the middle of summer. If you are that way again, I highly recommend you checking it out - Marian
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Joan, this winter you should do a day trip from the Ocala area down to Lake Wales - it's south of Orlando about 1 1/2 hours. One of the oldest Florida tourist destinations is a carillon tower located on the highest point in the state. Florida doens't have very many hills but this little area has them, and from the grounds around the tower you can see miles and miles of orange groves. Bok Tower Gardens, right in Lake Wales, was opened in the 1920's and is a throwback to those days. The gardens aren't extravagent but they are lovely. And the tower itself is beautiful, with intricate granite work and tiles. A couple times a day the carillon bells are played and you can hear it all around the gardens. Kate Here is a link that might be useful: Bok Tower Gardens
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User
Original Author
13 years ago
Places to put on the bucket list.
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anneliese_32
13 years ago
My music collection is growing.
I was thinking about bells on Sunday. Whitsunday is a double holiday in Germany and usually a pretty dependable time for warmer weather in Little Siberia, the area I come from. So in a slower time, we walked to church in our new summer clothes, the churchbells calling to service from 3 different directions, almost no traffic on the street and if we had not dawdled and the sun was shinning, we took the walking path through the meadows. I miss the churchbells here. A couple of years ago a new church played a tape with bells, but the neighbors complained, now there is just the traffic sound coming from the highway. The sound and feeling of Sunday got lost over the years.
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mwoods
13 years ago
My parents lived 5 minutes by car from Bok Tower in Lake Wales. I'd go there at least once a year and it's just beautiful there.It's one of the most peaceful places I've visited.
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neil_allen
13 years ago
I grew up a few blocks from a carillon.

John D. Rockafeller II had a thing about them -- he gave money for the two largest ones in the states: the one in Rockafeller Chapel at the University of Chicago and the one in the Riverside Church in New York. Both are named after his mother, Laura Spellman Rockafeller.

In both, some of the large bells can swing, to make a peal. At the U. of C., they ring the Westminster tune on the quarter hour. There are frequent carillon concerts.

Even before the carillon was installed, there was a set of bells in another tower on campus, that Amos Alonzo Stagg commandeered to ring curfew for this football players. They were silent for a long time, but in recent decades people have taken up ringing changes on them, as in Dorothy Sayer's The Nine Tailors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rockafeller Chapel
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west_gardener
13 years ago
I guess bells appeal to a lot of people in all walks of life.
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