I was introduced to these clients in January of 1989. They were planning a move from New York City  and were excited about the possibility of establishing a winter home in Florida. They were totally involved in the entire process of the site development and construction of new architectural style in a challenging environment. They had selected their building site on the bank of the Indian River Lagoon, within an upscale gated community,  on the east coast of Florida. Although this site was approximately 3.5 acres in size, only 1.5 acres was upland high and dry property . The remaining site was made up of wetlands which included a large tidal pond and portions of mosquito abatement ditches created in 1951 by the Army Corps of Engineers, all of which were and are surrounded by a mangrove border.

The  characteristics of this land required a very creative approach to its development and the atmosphere in landscape design. It was difficult enough to determine what goals a client might have for this large  a site, with a small building footprint. Added to those concerns, we had to acknowledge that the development community review rules , as well as the governmental and environmental authorities,  would also have a major say in what we would ultimately be able to create.

People with less creative determination than these clients would have either determined that this project was too much to take on, or simply elect to create the gardens to the most simple, most conforming manifestation of landscape development. That is what most people would do. But they did not consider that option at all. They understood that finding solutions to the most complex and difficult design problems, often resulted in the most satisfying and creative design solutions.

And so, having a small amount of land to build on resulted in our making every square foot mean something. Having most of this property situated in a mangrove marsh resulted in making that marsh  the be all and end all of our theme establishment. Even if the State of Florida might be monitoring every activity, our goal was to be even more concerned about the environmental rules than they might be. And it was our intent not only to fit into the community and their rules. Therefore,  it was determined to establish and maintain a natural buffer, acceptable to the community and the client alike. By doing this, whatever we intended to include within the site landscape was not  visible to those  outside the house environs. In this particular community, this was important as no artistic expressions, such as sculptures, art objects or even decorative boulders were tolerated if visible from within the community.

This was easy to accomplish as the entire site was surrounded by a lush mangrove forest. We further isolated the site by creating an earthen berm, four feet high above the street grade and then transplanted large mature oak trees from within the site, as well as transporting some from off site. The entire street-side planting scheme created a natural appearing isolating zone between the interior and the exterior of the building site.

As previously stated, most of this property was in a salt marsh wetland environment. Many years prior to our clients purchasing this site, the local mosquito control authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged canals within the marsh to introduce water circulation as a means to control mosquito production. In the process, “spoil” islands were created from the dredging. In some cases, oak trees has sprouted up on the island, but mostly they were inhabited by australian pines and pepper trees. These trees and shrubs are considered nuisance vegetation and detrimental to the wetland environments. By obtaining permission to remove  this obnoxious vegetation , we reclaimed wonderful upland island sites that we could incorporate within our entire landscape design complex.

And so, instead of having a typical landscape where one would wander throughout grass or pathways, we had a garden that allowed one to travel over the wetland environment on wooden walkways and visit various island environments. These islands would become special places that displayed the interests of the clients. The whole garden became a statement of what can be possible if the design goals can be implemented while still having a high priority of compliance within a given environment.

The completed garden speaks for itself. When it was finished, which in actuality it never will be completed, various environmental regulatory personnel would join garden lovers on scheduled tours through this unique atmosphere in landscape design. The clients would become advocates for the environment, eventually forming the Mangrove Garden Foundation, dedicated to the protection of the mangrove environment here and worldwide. Our client regularly and personally hosts and conducts educational tours of this garden to various interested groups of people.