Bok Tower Gardens is a National Historic Landmark in central Florida. In addition to its historic and cultural legacy, conservation has been an integral part of Bok Tower Garden’s mission.

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects led this section of the project. We collaborated for four years with them to design several new gardens envisioned in the master plan. The first task was to visit local preserves and meet with conservation partners to better understand the ecology of the Lake Wales Ridge. The resulting design includes two new areas: the Florida Garden and Pollinator Garden. The Florida Garden includes reconstruction of an existing wildlife pond and the addition of a constructed wetland and bog. The wetlands were created as demonstration areas and function to filter storm water runoff and recirculate and filter the wildlife pond. The pollinator garden brings a colorful and active garden close to the outdoor eating area where kids can explore and observe pollinators. The design uses vertical layers of plants to create a variety of habitats and protection for pollinators while providing a backbone of shrubs and small trees for multi season interest.

Other work included restoration of several areas on site to their natural ecologies (sandhill and pine flatwoods) by botanist Nancy Bissett, and connecting new garden paths to existing conservation areas and the Pine Ridge Nature Trail.