The Jungle Garden:
Preserving a Tropical Landscape
The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape is a lavishly illustrated commemorative volume published by Rizzoli in celebration of McKee Botanical Garden’s extraordinary legacy. With principal photography by Ngoc Minh Ngo, a foreword by Julian Fellowes, and text by Heather O’Shea, the book traces McKee’s evolution from a Florida wilderness to a world-renowned jungle garden. Across nine evocative chapters—from A Florida Wilderness and The Plant Explorers to The Waterlilies, The Orchids, and Reclaiming a Cultural Landscape—the volume honors the vision, artistry, and horticultural ambition that shaped the Garden. Its publication marks a defining moment in McKee’s Centennial Celebration of its living collections and the 25th anniversary of the Garden’s reopening, affirming McKee’s place as one of Florida’s most significant and enduring cultural landscapes.
Pre-order The Jungle Garden here for pick-up in McKee’s Garden Gift and Book Shop in October.
About Ngoc Minh Ngo
Considered one of the most poetic landscape and botanical photographers in the world, Ngoc’s work has appeared in such magazines as The World of Interiors, T Magazine, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Cabana, and House & Garden UK. She is the author of six books, five of which have been published by Rizzoli, including her most recent book, Roses in the Garden. McKee Botanical Garden is the first tropical garden Ngoc has photographed in Florida.
About Heather O’Shea, Writer
A freelance writer and former teacher and editor in chief of Vero Beach Magazine, Heather has researched and written about the rich history of McKee Botanical Garden for years. Following undergraduate work in English, Economics and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Heather earned a Ph.D. in English and an Executive MBA from the University of New Mexico. Her work has appeared in The Sun, the Daily Good, the Notre Dame Review, Blue Mesa Review, Cold Mountain Review, the Brevity Blog, and Vero Beach Magazine. The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape is Heather’s first book.
Doug Turshen, Book Design
For McKee’s commemorative volume, the Garden partnered with acclaimed book designer, Doug Turshen and his associates David Huang and Steve Turner. With more than 200 books to their credit, the team is renowned for unfailing taste, patience, and enthusiasm. Working collaboratively with authors and publishers, their studio develops compelling content and visual concepts that both inspire and inform, bringing the stories of accomplished creatives, across architecture, design, cuisine, and culture, to life. Among his many clients are Bunny Williams, Carolyne Roehm, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Kathryn Scott, Gill Schafer III, Suzy Bales, Mark D. Sikes, Suzanne Rheinstein