The Jungle Garden:Preserving a Tropical Landscape

A lush tour of a famed and historic tropical plant sanctuary.

In the heart of Florida, the McKee Botanical Garden stands as a lush, living testament to tropical preservation. Established by intrepid plant explorers in the 1920s, McKee quickly became renowned for its vast subtropical and tropical collections—it’s home to over 10,000 species, including rare orchids from the Andes, waterlilies from the Amazon, and exotic palms from every corner of the tropics.

A tour through all five senses as much as a tour de force of botany, these pages offer a succession of unforgettable “rooms” and experiences. The reader will be able to wander through glades of fragrant ylang ylang and past bottle-shaped gourds of calabash; be enveloped by masses of pink, lavender, and magenta Indian azaleas; marvel at the towering palms that shape the dramatic “Garden of the Gods;” or discover a watery oasis teeming with over 100 varieties of waterlilies (including lineage from David Fairchild’s expeditions) and 900 spectacular orchids.

This is a volume for everyone interested in tropical gardens, for armchair enthusiasts and collectors of tropical and subtropical plants, and for anyone who appreciates the passion of plant hunters and gardeners working in the name of conservation. | Marion de Vogel is on the garden’s board of directors and is the great-granddaughter of cofounder Arthur G. McKee. Elizabeth Moulton is also on the board, and the former publisher of Vero Beach Magazine. Heather O’Shea is former Editor-in-Chief of Vero Beach Magazine. Rochelle Ibañez Wolberg is the garden’s Executive Director. Renowned for her visionary leadership in the realm of horticulture, Rochelle joined McKee in January 2024.