McKee Jungle Gardens was the vision of land developers Arthur McKee and Waldo Sexton, who purchased the 80-acre tropical hammock in 1922. The property’s natural beauty was deemed too special in its native state to disturb so McKee and Sexton identified a new purpose for the land. The two land developers employed landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, an Associate from the esteemed Olmsted Brothers firm, to design the basic infrastructure of streams, ponds and trails while they focused their efforts on assembling one of the most outstanding collections of waterlilies and orchids – augmenting native vegetation with ornamental plants and exotic specimens from around the world.
Today, the restored McKee Botanical Garden site remains true to McKee and Sexton’s vision. There are over 10,000 native and tropical plants to behold and one of Florida’s largest and most celebrated internationally certified collections of water lilies. Several restored architectural treasures such as The Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen have been meticulously restored to Sexton’s original vision.
Enjoy your time in the jungle and use this tool as a way to locate and learn about some of our more exotic species.