IRCF Steps into McKee’s Next Chapter

McKee Botanical Garden is Vero Beach’s first and oldest award-winning attraction. Founded in 1932, the Garden was created to preserve Florida’s native hammock and showcase rare tropical plants from around the world.

This month, the community foundation staff visited McKee Botanical Garden. They learned about the garden’s history with a guided tour and enjoyed Florigami in the Garden, an exuberant sculpture exhibition based on the ancient art of origami. 

Executive Director Rochelle Wolberg joined the team for lunch in the Garden Café. She described McKee's exciting year ahead and plans for the future. It’s been twenty-five years since the garden was re-opened in 2001 after nearly being paved over to build a strip mall. It’s also been one hundred years since the garden’s founders, Arthur G. McKee and Waldo Sexton, first began collecting and tending the living collection that put the young city of Vero Beach on the map. 

This fall, the garden will celebrate both anniversaries. A lavishly illustrated commemorative book, The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape, will be published by Rizzoli. Photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo and written by Community Foundation employee Heather O’Shea, the book celebrates the garden’s history and tells the amazing story of how this community rallied to save a beloved cultural landscape.

Wolberg, who is leaning in to the garden's strong horticultural roots, is positioning the garden to meet any challenges the future may bring.

Pre-orders for books can be placed on the garden’s website.