Vero Beach, Florida This October, internationally renowned publisher Rizzoli will release The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape, a richly photographed commemorative volume chronicling more than a century of vision, decline, rescue, and renaissance at McKee Botanical Garden.
Photographed by celebrated landscape photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo and written by author and former editor-in-chief of Vero Beach Magazine, Heather O’Shea, with a foreword by Julian Fellowes, the book captures the extraordinary evolution of a Florida wilderness into one of America’s most enchanting tropical gardens.
Founded in the 1920s by visionary horticulturist Arthur G. McKee and his business partner Waldo E. Sexton, the original McKee Jungle Gardens quickly became an internationally admired destination, famed for its cathedral-like royal palms, rare orchids, waterlilies and immersive subtropical plantings. After decades of popularity, the Garden closed in 1976, facing near destruction from development.
What followed was an unprecedented grassroots rescue. In the 1990s, a passionate coalition of local citizens mounted a bold campaign to save the historic core from bulldozers. Their efforts culminated in the formation of the Indian River Land Trust and the Garden’s triumphant reopening in 2001 as McKee Botanical Garden, today recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and celebrated as an award-winning model of horticultural preservation.
The Jungle Garden is both visual feast and historical narrative. Through luminous photography and deeply researched storytelling, the book explores:
With more than 200 photographs, archival imagery, and deeply researched prose, the volume honors not only the Garden’s founders, but also the generations of horticulturists, volunteers, and philanthropists who safeguarded its legacy.
“This book is a tribute to resilience, of landscape, of community, and of vision,” said Rochelle Wolberg, Executive Director of McKee Botanical Garden. “It preserves the story of how a wild and wondrous place was saved for the enrichment, education and enjoyment of future generations.”
The book was developed over four years by a dedicated committee working in close collaboration with Rizzoli’s editorial and design team, ensuring a publication worthy of the Garden’s dual milestones: the Centennial of the living collections and the 25th Anniversary of the reopening.
The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape will be available in October 2026 through Rizzoli, major booksellers nationwide, and at McKee Botanical Garden. Price is $65.
About McKee Botanical Garden
Located in Vero Beach, Florida, McKee Botanical Garden is an 18-acre historic tropical oasis home to more than 10,000 native and exotic plants. Recognized internationally for its waterlily collection and immersive jungle landscape, McKee serves as a cultural and horticultural treasure welcoming more than 100,000 visitors annually.
