Key West's Secret Garden
by Deborah Straw



Key West is one huge garden. The area is affectionately referred to as paradise for a good reason. The island's streets and hidden lanes are lined with majestic palm trees, Norfolk pines and flowering beauties like flame vine, royal poinciana, bougainvillea and frangipani. Plants grow in this subtropical southernmost city, in USDA Zone 11, at about triple the rate they do in my native New England.

Several special gardens are open to the public. The Secret Garden is one of my favorites. In 1969, Nancy Forrester, an environmental artist and gardener, bought a one-acre property at the end of Freeschool Lane in the middle of Old Town, with her sister and cousin. Over the next few years, she established a rainforest-style garden, eventually buying out her partners.

Situated on a former "undesignated city dump," her garden features rainforest plants from around the world. Forrester's specialty is the palm tree, of which she has more than 135 species. Hers is one of the largest private collections in the Keys.

Two of Forrester's more spectacular and unusual palms are the Pelagodoxa Henryana from the Marquesa Islands, a small palm with a huge undivided blue-green leaf, rare even in the wild, and the Phoenicophorium Borsigianum from the Seychelles Islands, "grown for its large, undivided leaves, known for its beauty."

But Forrester's garden is not made up solely of palms. She also has a world-class collection of aroids, including philodendrons and elephant ears. The largest elephant ear, from Borneo, stretches from Forrester's chin to her feet when she holds it next to her. She has what she calls an "interesting collection" of cycads that do well in shade (now all on the endangered species list), and, a new interest, orchids. The other spots of brilliant color in her "forest" are provided by several caged parrots and love birds - in azures, crimsons, yellows and iridescent greens.

Primarily for financial reasons ("to save it"), in December 1995, Forrester and her companion, Elliot Wright, opened the garden on a limited basis to the public. People now get married here, and a few creative writing workshops are held under the palms. Yet, this remains a private - yes - a secret garden. It's not on the Conch train tour route. "Finding it is sort of like a treasure hunt," Forrester admits.

Forrester wants people who love the earth, who love gardens (and parrots and butterflies) to share her artistic masterpiece - to spend time in her cool garden meditating and appreciating the subtropical beauty of Key West. And, on a larger scale, she'd like them to join in her efforts to preserve this garden. And, in larger terms, to preserve Key West and the planet.

Nancy's Secret Garden, One Freeschool Lane, Key West, Florida 33040