Sunken Gardens: The Tropical Paradise Inside a St. Pete Sinkhole

A plumber looked at a sinkhole behind his house and saw a garden. In 1903, George Turner Sr. drained a shallow lake sitting 15 feet below street level on his St. Petersburg property, revealing rich soil that would become one of Florida’s most unexpected green spaces.

From Nickels to National Fame

Turner started small, planting papayas and citrus in the basin. By the 1920s, neighbors were paying a nickel to stroll through his growing collection of tropical plants. He fenced the property in 1935 and charged 24 cents admission. By the 1950s, Sunken Gardens had become one of Florida’s top ten commercial attractions, drawing over 200,000 visitors a year with its exotic plants, trained parrot shows, and a flock of Chilean flamingos that became the garden’s signature residents.

Saved by the City

When theme parks pulled tourists away in the 1980s, attendance dropped and the Turner family sold the property in 1989. It could have become a parking lot or a strip mall. Instead, St. Petersburg residents voted for a one-time property tax in 1999 to buy the gardens and keep them public. The city has run them ever since.

What You’ll Find Today

The four-acre garden holds more than 50,000 tropical plants, including towering royal palms, cascading bougainvillea, orchids, water lilies, and a canopy of ancient live oaks. A Japanese garden sits tucked along the winding trail, and the flamingos still strut the grounds as they have for decades. Sunken Gardens is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $18 for adults and $8 for children ages 2 to 12. It’s at 1825 4th Street North, right in downtown St. Pete.