David Price
President (2007-2026)
Director of Horticulture (1987-2007)
Bok Tower Gardens
David Price is due to retire in June 2026 after 39 years of service to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, FL, overseeing the most significant period of growth in the landscape’s 100+ year history. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. in 1923 for magazine editor Edward Bok, Bok Tower Gardens stands out as one of the most unique properties by the Olmsted firm, with its famous “singing tower” and what Price calls “a certain sense of place” for visitors. “You get a sense that this place is part of Florida, it’s actually coming forth from Florida—not the artificial Florida, but natural Florida.”
When the site was first laid out, Bok Tower Gardens covered 62 acres, a figure that was roughly doubled by the time Price joined in 1987. Around the garden itself are vista views that Price says are essential to Olmsted Jr.’s design for the space: “Our views are everything… if we lose these views, we lose the Olmsted design.” During his tenure, the organization worked to procure and protect the surrounding land, and today it owns or manages approximately 760 acres.
Price feels that what sets Bok Tower Gardens apart is that it remains largely authentic to the design and intent put forth in 1923. “So often, you have Olmsted designs, and then over the years people make ‘improvements’ upon them and they put this or that… and if you squint your eyes, you can still see that Olmsted design there, and it’s really hard to understand the full impact of the design when you see it broken up. But here, you still get that feeling.”
As Price looks back on his decades of service to Bok Tower Gardens, he remains excited for his next chapter, where he hopes to devote more time to his bronze sculpture work. Learn more about his time with Bok Tower Gardens in the full interview here.
