Wilmot Botanical Gardens is located in the heart of the Southeast’s largest academic health center, providing a peaceful and verdant respite for patients, faculty, staff, and the public. In addition, the gardens are dedicated to advancing patient care, research and service through its vibrant and growing therapeutic horticulture program.
The gardens are open to the public year-round and boast a collection of camellias unrivaled in north central Florida. Wilmot Botanical Gardens is named for Royal James “Roy” Wilmot, who was a horticulturist with the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Florida in the 1940s. Wilmot was an authority on camellias and classified many of the 3,000 known varieties of this flowering shrub, sometimes called “the empress of winter”. Wilmot also served as a founding member of the American Camellia Society, the offices of which were initially housed on the UF campus. Wilmot died in 1950, and friends and colleagues from the United States and abroad donated over 300 rare varieties of camellias in his honor to create Wilmot Botanical Gardens at the University of Florida.