Cummer’s Garden Tour a hit with locals, museum goers
Spring was certainly in the air, as avid gardeners, museum patrons and volunteers helped the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and the Nature Conservancy play host to an open garden tour, March 26, from 12-4 p.m. through a three-property tour of gardens on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon.
Garden lovers and green thumbs; or those simply looking for a refreshing activity for the day were treated to three unique and differing gardens. The first being the Cummer Museum’s curated gardens, rich with history and names that have shaped landscaped design – from the likes of Ossian Cole Simonds, to Ellen Biddle Shipman, Thomas Meehan and Sons, as well as names from the great Olmsted firm – to name a few.
Just down the St. Johns River banks, the private Ortega gardens of Ann Hicks were on display, alongside the lapping shoreline. The impeccable gardens were a true treat for all to see, complete with views and unobstructed vistas across hundreds of feet at a time. This garden sprawls from one end of the property to the other, and from front to back, along the single homesite, which at one point was two homes side by side.
From climbing roses, to perfectly trodden gravel pathways, stone capped bulkhead accents and more, the gardens brimmed with perfection and precise care, offering a paradoxical difference between this garden and the final garden on the tour at Lanalika.
The Lanakila gardens (of Hawaiian origin, meaning Victory) welcomed patrons to a late 1800’s estate home on several acres off Mandarin Road on the river, where organic farming methods have been implemented over the last eight years. The gardens have been carefully, but purposefully curated in order to create 2.5 acres of flowers, flowering trees and edible plants, vegetables and fruits all living in layered and supportive fashion, living plant over plant. The gardens are also part of a land preservation program set up by the homeowner through the North Florida Land Trust to preserve the acreage for future generations to spend valuable time.
The tour through each garden illustrates the difference between styles of gardens, what the goals are of the gardener, or gardeners, and much more. From a local award winning Museum; to a private home of curated ornamental gardens on a lovely riverfront estate, all the way down South to the relaxed, yet interestingly resourceful use of a parcel of land abutting the remote portions of Mandarin Road, tucked back away from the bustle of the city.
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