McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach is Awarded Prestigious Jean & John Greene Prize
The Floridant/10294094

VERO BEACH, Fla. - Floridant -- (Vero Beach, FL – January 23, 2025) Rochelle Wolberg, Executive Director of McKee Botanical Garden, today announced it is the recipient of the esteemed Jean and John Greene Prize for Excellence in American Gardening. This prestigious award, accompanied by a $45,000 grant, will support the development of a comprehensive, five-year strategic business plan to ensure McKee's continued growth and long-term financial stability.

McKee Botanical Garden joins an elite group of Greene Prize recipients, following Wethersfield Estate and Garden in Amenia, NY, and Lotusland in Santa Barbara, CA.

The prize has been made possible by a transformational estate gift of nearly $3 million to the Garden Conservancy in Garrison, NY from John Kaul Greene, who passed away in 2019, after expressing his intention to create an award to recognize excellence in American gardening. Greene, a former Garden Conservancy board member and a lifelong advocate for exceptional gardens, is survived by his wife, Jean, who shared with him an appreciation for the ways gardens enrich our lives, an appreciation that deepened during the four years the couple lived in Europe. The Greenes enjoyed gardening at their Lake Forest, IL home and were longtime supporters of the Chicago Botanic Garden where John served on the board of trustees for more than half a century.

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When asked about the significance of recognizing McKee Botanical Garden with the prestigious Award, James Brayton Hall, President and CEO of the Garden Conservancy, said, "I am immensely proud to have advanced McKee's candidacy! The history of the garden is remarkable, and the work they are doing there is an outstanding model for other public gardens."

McKee Botanical Garden was founded in 1932 by Cleveland industrialist Arthur McKee and Florida pioneer developer Waldo Sexton, who commissioned William Lyman Phillips, an associate of the Frederick Law Olmsted firm with turning the jungle into a preeminent tropical garden. Award-winning collections of waterlilies and orchids, including cool-growing orchids, flourished in the world's first mechanically driven air-conditioned greenhouse, engineered and patented by Arthur McKee. Theme-park attractions in central Florida led to the demise of the tropical oasis; it closed and was sold to developers in 1978.

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Attached Image:

(Photo Credit: J. Patrick Rice)

The Stone Bridge at McKee Botanical Garden

Media Contacts:

+ McKee Botanical Garden

Rochelle Wolberg, Executive Director

772.794.0601

ExecutiveDirector@McKeeGarden.org

+ The Garden Conservancy

Cliff Weathers, Director of Communications

845.445.8257

cweathers@gardenconservancy.org