McKee Botanical Garden

Last updated
McKee Jungle Gardens
The Hall of Giants.JPG
The Hall of Giants, McKee Botanical Garden
Location350 U.S. Highway 1
Vero Beach, Florida
Nearest city Vero Beach, Florida
Coordinates 27°36′27″N80°22′55″W / 27.6076°N 80.3820°W / 27.6076; -80.3820
Area18 acres (7.3 hectares)
ArchitectWilliam Lyman Phillips
NRHP reference No. 97001636 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 7, 1998

The McKee Botanical Garden (area of 18 acres (7.3 hectares)) is a non-profit, subtropical botanical garden in Vero Beach, Florida. [1] [2] It is located at 350 U.S. Highway 1, Vero Beach, Florida.

Contents

History

It was founded in 1929, when Waldo E. Sexton and Arthur G. McKee purchased an 80-acre (32 ha) tropical hammock along the Indian River. [3] [4] [5] Tropical landscape architect William Lyman Phillips was hired to design its streams, ponds, and trails. Its indigenous vegetation was augmented with ornamental plants and seeds from around the world. In 1932, they proceeded to open the garden, then known as McKee Jungle Gardens, as a tourist attraction. Although the Garden was successful for several decades, it shut down in 1976, and most of its land was sold for development. The site remained vacant for twenty years until the Indian River Land Trust purchased it in 1995. The current Garden was formally dedicated in 2001. [6] It is now a Florida landmark and on January 7, 1998, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places under its former name of McKee Jungle Gardens. [1] Currently, there are several buildings on the garden including the office, gift shop, education center and a restaurant.

Flora

The Garden's collections currently include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vero Beach, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Vero Beach is a city in and the county seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,354. Nicknamed “The Gateway to the Tropics”, the city is situated along the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean on Florida's Treasure Coast. Located at the northern end of the South Florida region, Vero Beach is 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Orlando and 65 miles (105 km) north of West Palm Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical garden</span> Type of garden

A tropical garden is a type of garden that features tropical plants and requires heavy rainfall or a decent irrigation or sprinkler system for watering. These gardens typically need fertilizer and heavy mulching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heathcote Botanical Gardens</span>

Heathcote Botanical Gardens is a five-acre subtropical botanical garden located at 210 Savannah Road, Fort Pierce, Florida, United States.

The greater Brisbane area of Queensland Australia, has many species of indigenous flora. This article links the flora to its geography with:

Waldo Emmerson Sexton was an entrepreneur whose enterprises have attracted visitors to Vero Beach, Florida, since the 1930s and remain of value to the community, industry, tourists, artists, historians and horticulturalists. He was named to the list of Great Floridians by the Florida Department of State for his agricultural contributions.

McKee is a surname. It may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice William Holtze</span>

Maurice William Holtze born in the Kingdom of Hanover, was a botanist who established Darwin's Botanical Gardens in Fannie Bay, Darwin in 1878. When he left to take charge of Adelaide's Botanic Garden in 1891, his son Nicholas was appointed curator of the Darwin Botanical Gardens in his place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Luqueer Mead</span> American naturalist and horticulturist

Theodore Luqueer Mead was an American naturalist, entomologist and horticulturist. As an entomologist he discovered more than 20 new species of North American butterflies and introduced the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado to the wider scientific world. As a horticulturist, he is best known for his pioneering work on the growing and crossbreeding of orchids, and the creation of new forms of caladium, bromeliad, crinum, amaryllis and hemerocallis (daylily). In addition, he introduced many new semi-tropical plants, particularly palm varieties, into North America. A biography of his life and times was published in 2017.

<i>The Paradisus Londinensis</i> Book of plant illustrations

The Paradisus Londonensis is a book dated 1805–1808, printed by D.N. Shury, and published by William Hooker. It consists of coloured illustrations of 117 plants drawn by William Hooker, with explanatory text by Richard Anthony Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plants of the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve</span>

This is a list of plants found in the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve. The reserve straddles the Mexican states of Colima and Jalisco. It is located in the transition between the Nearctic and Neotropical realms and encompasses parts of the Sierra Madre del Sur, with a wide range of altitudes, climates and soils. The effects of tectonic and volcanic activities and erosion are notable within the reserve.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
  2. ↑ McKee Botanical Garden listing at FL heritage website
  3. ↑ Great Floridians of Vero Beach
  4. ↑ Hutchinson, Hubbard (Sep 11, 1932). "Florida's Jungle Garden of Rare Plants: In the McKee Park the Riotous Blooms of Tropical Lands Have Been Added to the Native Growths With Unique Effect". New York Times. p. SM17.
  5. ↑ Clarke, Jay (December 12, 1971). "They Call It 'The Damndest Place You Ever Saw'—On the Beach Where Turtles Come to Cry". New York Times . p. XX3.
  6. ↑ Raver, Anne (10 February 2002). "A 1930's Roadside Attraction Blooms Again". The New York Times . Retrieved 9 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.