Largest Gift Shop and the King of Kings Wax Museum, adding faux lava portions at that time. In 1999, it was purchased by the City of St. Petersburg, along with the adjoining gardens, using a voter-approved tax. The Gardens were designated as a local historic landmark and treated to several years' efforts of restoration. On June 27, 2002, the former Sanitary Public Market building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and is now the home of Great Explorations Children's Museum. Flora and fauna The Gardens currently contain over 500 species of tropical and subtropical plants amidst pools and cascading waterfalls, lushly planted in a collection of more than 50,000 tropical plants and flowers. They include a Japanese garden, cactus garden, and butterfly garden, and Chilean flamingos. Plants include bougainvilleas, royal palms, water lilies, shrimp plants, and fruit trees. The garden atmosphere is peaceful and many of the plants are quite large (compared to typical specimens) due to their long history of protection and cultivation. Chilean flamingos In 2016, Sunken Gardens acquired a new young flock of 20 flamingos from the San Antonio Zoo. They joined elderly flamingo residents, George and Lucy, the two remaining Chilean flamingos from the original 17 bird flock that have been on exhibit since 1956. The new flamingos were purchased with funds raised by a nonprofit group, Flamingos Forever, composed of volunteers. Additionally, the city purchased a $30,000 nighttime enclosure for the new flock. Flamingos Forever changed their name to Sunken Gardens Forever, after the acquisition of the new flock, and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman named May "Sunken Gardens Forever Appreciation Month" in St. Petersburg, FL, in honor of their fundraising efforts. Parrots Sunken Gardens also houses 11 parrots. Five macaws, four Amazons, and two cockatoos live in the garden. Additionally, a kookaburra also resides on the premises. All twelve of the birds are rescues and were acquired after their previous owners died or could no longer provide care for them. Bobbie Sue is a yellow-headed amazon who is over 30 years old. There is Mindy, who is a white umbrella cockatoo that’s around 30. Coconut, a 20-year-old macaw, was one of the more recent birds acquired by the gardens. There is also Mitch, an 8-year-old Major Mitchell’s cockatoo. In recent years, staff stated that Mitch has become agreeable and will occasionally play “peekaboo” with staff or visitors. Programs for lifelong