Bee and Black-eyed Susan

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Bee and Black-eyed Susan

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

It was a perfectly gorgeous day. There was a slight breeze with the temperature just below 80 degrees. We walked along the gorgeous paths for a few hours. We saw plenty of ponds, flowers, water-falls, trees, and butterflies.

In 1932, Arthur G. McKee and Waldo E. Sexton opened McKee Jungle Gardens. It was on an 80 acre tropical hammock in Vero Beach, Florida. The two land developers employed landscape architect William Lyman Phillips. He was from the esteemed firm of Fredeerick Law Olmsted. He was to design the basic infrastructure of streams, pnds and trails. They focused their efforts on assembling and outstanding collection of waterlilies and orchids. Then they augmented them with native vegetation with ornamental plants and exotic specimens from around the world. By the 1940's, more than 100,000 tourists were visiting the Gardens each year. It was deemed one of Florida's earliest and most popular natural attractions.


Although the Garden was successful for several decades, it shut down in 1976. Most of its land was sold for development. All but 18 acres were developed into condominiums. The remaining site remained vacant for twenty years. The Indian River Land Trust purchased it in 1995. The current Garden was restored. In November 2001, a formal dedication ceremony was held for McKee Botanical Garden. Currently, there are several buildings on the garden including the office, gift shop, education center and a restaurant.

Uploaded

May 27th, 2021

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