INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — In preparation for an upcoming 10th Anniversary Celebration, Christine Hobart, executive director of McKee Botanical Garden, and her green-thumbed staff have been as busy as the bees that pollinate the bountiful botanicals.
“We want the garden to be blossoming and in the best shape it can be this fall for our anniversary celebration,” said an enthusiastic Hobart. “We’re not changing anything – just enhancing what is here.”
The former 80-acre McKee Jungle Gardens, an early Florida attraction that once drew world-wide visitors, closed its gates in 1976 and by 1994 all but 18 acres had been plowed under and turned into a condominium development.
Fortunately for the rest of us, a resolute group of residents banded together to rescue the remaining property and preserve an irreplaceable slice of Florida history.
The Indian River Land Trust launched a vigorous year-long fundraising campaign in 1995, and with strong support from the community was able to purchase the property for $1.7 million.
Then the real work began.
It would take raising an additional $9 million, the tireless work of skillful gardeners and staff, and the sweat equity of hundreds of volunteers to pull it off, but in November 2001 the dream became a reality with the dedication of a new McKee Botanical Garden.
To mark the occasion, McKee will host an Old Florida Cookout at its outdoor Spanish Kitchen on November 13, which will incorporate some of the original historical aspects.
“It will be just like they’d have back when Waldo [Sexton] would throw on a bunch of steaks on a Sunday afternoon,” explained Hobart. “It’s going to be a real family friendly event.”
To ready the jewel of a garden and its unique waterway system for the celebratory season, Andreas Daehnick, McKee’s director of horticulture, and his staff of five gardeners began by giving the entry-way pergola a massive pruning.
“We gave it a haircut,” Hobart said with a grin. “It was getting very woody – the vines were strangling each other. The vines will be lush by the time everyone gets back.”
She has also brought back landscape architect David Sacks, who formerly created the restoration plan for McKee Botanical Garden.
His challenge at the time was to preserve the vision of McKee Jungle Garden’s original designer William Lyman Phillips, in an area one-quarter of its original size.
“David has come back several times but hadn’t been here in three years,” said Hobart. “He has told us that of all of his projects, McKee is the most meaningful to him. David is our expert on this project; he’s putting together a replanting plan for the garden. I’m very excited to see his recommendations.”
“I think a lot has grown in and matured beautifully,” said Sacks, who spent several days perusing and photographing the grounds. “To go back 10 years later and see how it has developed is impressive. A lot of passages in the garden are exactly what we were hoping for. Others have taken a little bit of a hit, from two serious winters and those two hurricanes. There’s also always a certain amount of natural attrition.”
Noting that horticultural tastes have evolved, his strategy is to continually spark people’s interest with new concepts.
He expects to fill some areas with unusual plantings that will present dazzling colors at different times of the year.
“There are some parts of the garden that were not fully programmed as to what their identity would be,” added Sacks. “The 10 year anniversary is a good time to step back and review those and think of what we can do.”
For some, including Earl Morgan, McKee’s current board president, the appeal of the garden’s hushed splendor is its mystical healing quality.
“The ancient Celts had an old theology that predated the Roman invasion of Britain,” explained Morgan. “They believed that there are so-called thin places, such as Stonehenge, where the divine dimension comes together with the human dimension, and that the boundary in-between is paper thin.”
For Morgan, McKee is a thin place; made even more poignant after coworkers at Northern Trust Bank and friends throughout the community dedicated a bench in memory of his son, John Barrett Morgan, who passed away in December 2009.
“When I sit on my son’s memorial bench and look across the pond and the bridge; that is the height of my experience there. Being at that particular spot, in that particular garden, ministers to me in a healing way. The healing is divine.”
“I also think that’s why Waldo and McKee started the garden there,” explained Morgan of the unlikely pairing of Waldo Sexton and Arthur McKee, founders of the original McKee Jungle Gardens in 1931.
He researched the men for a play he is writing and will present at the anniversary celebration, with Morgan playing the part of McKee and James David as Waldo.
“McKee was one of the great steel entrepreneurs in the world. He was told to find a healing place; he looked to that garden for the same purpose. Waldo suffered from manic depression. He liked to tickle nature and stand back to watch her laugh. There is an experience out at the garden that has been there for 100 years.”
He and Hobart look forward to continuing that experience for future generations.
“What we found when we first opened 10 years ago, was that those who were interested in botanical gardens came,” explained Hobart. “After a few years, we really looked at what else we could do. You have to have activities that appeal to a broad audience and the whole community.”
Over the past decade creativity has abounded, with exhibits that featured gargantuan bugs and life-sized dinosaurs, an enchanting Fäbel collection, and last year’s delightful Dr. Seuss characters.
A fanciful Fairy Festival was such a hit, that it will now be held annually, joining other signature events such as the Water Lily Exhibit, which attracts countless artists and photographers.
Hobart anticipates expanding the Halloween exhibit with additional scarecrows, creatively stuffed by volunteers.
And in addition to the full-out Holidays at McKee event with Santa and refreshments, there will also be three pared down Nights of Lights, for strollers to just enjoy the twinkling displays.
One of Hobart’s favorite job perks is seeing families enjoy the garden and hearing the squeals of laughter from children as they discover something wonderful.
Her hope is to introduce a whole new generation to the garden, possibly with the introduction of a children’s discovery trail.
Plans are also in the works for an event which will feature Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. His book addresses the issue of children spending too much time engrossed in technology, and not enough with nature.
“That’s what we’re trying to do; combat nature deficit disorder,” Hobart said with a smile. “Get the younger generation involved so that they appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be all about horticulture – just introduce them to nature.”
“I think it’s a very special place; a place to be immersed in,” said Sacks. “I think it was a compelling idea in the 1930s when they first created it as a jungle garden. Even when it was in its kind of abandoned state in the early ’90s it was a place that really seemed to capture people’s imagination and heart when they went there. There were a lot of dedicated, extremely passionate volunteers. The combination of that naturalistic Florida hammock combined with the tropical jungle overlay to it, the open spaces, the sunny greeting area, that spectacular water lily system that they’ve created – it’s a unique combination of elements.”
