History
In 1884, Henry Nehrling, a 31-year-old Wisconsin schoolteacher and naturalist, purchased 40 acres of land in the newly founded German-American community of Gotha in southwestern Orange County, Florida. He began his garden there in 1886, and in 1902 he moved there with his family. In 1903 he also moved his late-1880s house to the property from its original site overlooking Lake Olivia. Thus the gardens pre-date the building.
Nehrling's dream was of a garden where he could grow tropical and sub-tropical plants year round. As a designer, he developed a landscape that was natural-looking rather than formal. As a scientist, he also experimented extensively with exotic and native plants, ultimately developing many of the varieties of subtropical ornamentals found today in individual gardens and throughout the Florida landscape industry.
Over time, Nehrling built extensive wood lathe shade houses for his caladiums and bromeliads and also experimented with many varieties of cycads and tropical trees. Eventually, his property became Florida 's first experimental botanical garden, the site where Dr. Nehrling tested over 3000 new and rare plants for the United States Department of Agriculture. Of these, over 300 new and beneficial plants were introduced into Florida and U.S. landscapes including many varieties of caladiums, bromeliads, hybrid amaryllis, gloriosa lilies, palms and bamboos. These plants formed the foundation for Florida 's thriving nursery industry, now the third largest industry in the state. Today, the caladium industry alone is worth more than 13 million dollars to the state's economy, and the amaryllis now grown by the millions have direct ties to Dr. Nehrling's work over a century ago in this garden.
In addition to his research in botany and horticulture, he also developed a specialty in ornithology and the ecology of North American birds. In an extraordinary lifetime of study and cultivation of natural beauty, Dr. Nehrling gave to Florida and America a legacy of exotic and native plants that enhance our homes and public spaces today, His seminal works included Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty (1893) and The Amaryllis (1908). He wrote eloquently of Florida 's natural beauty and the need to protect it. Two of his books have recently been abridged and edited by Robert W. Read of the Smithsonian Institute and published by the University Press of Florida under the titles Nehrling's Early Florida Gardens and Nehrling's Plants, People, and Places in Early Florida, in tribute to his outstanding legacy.
Dr. Nehrling's Palm Cottage Gardens soon became a popular destination for thousands of tourists, nature lovers, and new Florida settlers. Many prominent people of the era such as Theodore Roosevelt, John Burroughs and Dr. David Fairchild, the famous botanical explorer, visited these early gardens. Fairchild described Palm Cottage Gardens as the most beautiful place in Florida.
Dr. Nehrling was not motivated by money, but by his love of plants and his dedication to the advancement of ornamental horticulture. He only wanted a garden to grow the plants that he loved and to introduce them to everyone who stopped to visit. His plant collections were sought out by some of America 's greatest botanists and leading authorities in horticulture. Little did he realize the far-reaching impact of his work.
By 1917 a series of severe winters drove Dr. Nehrling to purchase another property further south near Naples (not far from his friend Thomas Edison's estate) for his more cold sensitive plants, but Palm Cottage Gardens remained his first love. After Dr. Nehrling's death in 1929, the Palm Cottage and its gardens were neglected for five years until Julian Nally purchased them in 1934. Nally, a pioneer in bromeliad propagation, added several greenhouses to the property and continued Dr. Nehrling's legacy until his death in 1977. At that time, the property again lay idle until it was purchased by a group of developers and subdivided into the Lake Nally Woods residential development. Of the original 40-acre garden, only 6 acres were retained with the Palm Cottage home site; approximately 3.25 acres are upland while the eastern portion extends into Lake Nally.
Barbara Bochiardy (the current owner) and her late husband, architect Howard Bochiardy, rescued Palm Cottage House and its gardens in 1981. Together, they restored the house and added several architecturally compatible structures. Since her husband's death and the onset of health problems, Mrs. Bochiardy has found it increasingly difficult to maintain the property, which suffers from invasive species as well as extensive tree damage from the 2004 hurricanes.
In 2000, a small group of concerned citizens banded together and formed The Henry Nehrling Society with the mission of purchasing and preserving Dr. Henry Nehrling's historic Gotha home and Palm Cottage Gardens. The group incorporated in the State of Florida and petitioned and received non-profit charity status 501(c)(3) with the Internal Revenue Service. Over the past five years, the organization has grown to over 200 paid memberships with a 20-member Board of Directors and an advisory board of successful professionals with expertise in business, landscape design and hands-on experience in rescuing old gardens. The Society has also formed partnership alliances with many other organizations, such as the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and the many plant societies that share our goal of saving these historic gardens.
Today, the remaining garden is a living repository of magnificent trees (some damaged and destroyed by the 2004 hurricanes), shrubs and plants overtaken by an invasion of potato vines and exotic species. While Dr. Nehrling's original shade houses and palm alee to the lake are long gone, there are mature trees, bamboos, and palms planted by Nehrling which remain on the site and which may be studied and propagated. Additionally, there are perennials and herbaceous materials in the under story which are believed to be Nehrling's. One of the wood and glass greenhouses built by Julian Nally remains. The State of Florida 's Division of Historic Resources recognized Palm Cottage Gardens as "a historical site of State significance" in January 2000, and the U.S. Department of the Interior placed the site on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2000.
The Henry Nehrling Society believes that the best way to preserve the garden is to create an education, history and horticulture center for the public on the site. The purpose of the center would be to:
• Honor Dr. Nehrling's horticultural and ornithological achievements;
• Preserve the remaining historical gardens and create new teaching gardens;
• Recognize the community's historical and German-American cultural heritage;
• Teach environmentally sound gardening and landscaping practices, and wetlands restoration and conservation; and
• Assist in the conservation and protection of natural resources in Central Florida.
There is a tremendous need for this kind of resource in Orange County.
Nehrling's Palm Cottage Gardens was the subject of an extensive 2005 Masters degree thesis for the University of Florida by landscape architect, Cary S. Hester, M.L.A., who also holds a horticulture degree from Cornell University. Hester's intensive study included a G.P.S. tree survey of the gardens; a new site plan; detailed historical and horticultural research of the site; studies of gardens comparable to the proposed Nehrling garden restoration and their positive impact on the surrounding community. "There are a lot of mature trees, bamboos, and palms that are Nehrling's which remain on the site," said Hester. "In addition, there are a lot of perennials and herbaceous materials in the under story which I suspect are Nehrling's. These under story species of herbaceous plants need to be inventoried as well, as there are probably enough of them to at least begin the new garden planting, but a lot of material will have to be added as well. More research needs to be done in creating a "Master Plant List" of all species historically grown on the site. This would then serve as a checklist for obtaining or propagating new material, some of which still remains on the site today."
"The framework of mature trees on the west side of the property (near Hempel Ave. ) is almost entirely Nehrling's, as are the canopy trees immediately surrounding the house," said Hester. "On the east side of the property (near the lake) there are less of Nehrling's trees and a lot of new planting would need to occur to implement my site plan in this area. The original Date Palm Allee would be reconstructed. Even so, this garden is well worth rebuilding, even if slowly and one piece at a time. Canopy trees would have to be added as time goes on, as well as the under story and herbaceous materials. I suspect everyone involved would be surprised at how quickly we can accumulate more species knowledge and inexpensive plant materials for the new garden with the right team on the task. Nehrling also collected many of the same species at the Naples Caribbean Garden location, many of which remain there today. I would gladly be the Nehrling Gardens contact in Naples, and work with the horticulturalist here at Caribbean Gardens if they would be receptive to discussing possible donation of plant material of Nehrling's for propagation purposes. However, there is so much history at the Gotha location that it is worth it, no matter how long it takes."
Landscape architect, horticulturist, botanist and ecologist Martin Quigley, Ph.D., M.L.A., Director of the U.C.F. Arboretum and an Associate Professor of Biology, was invited to Gotha to tour Nehrling's Palm Cottage Gardens. Quigley said, "It was very exciting to see first hand the fantastic potential for restoration of this historic site. Despite the first impression of overwhelming vegetation, what lies beneath the canopy of vines is the intact structure of magnificent trees and shrubs that have survived over a century of storms and neglect. Towering live oaks are familiar to everyone in Florida - but there are also the largest Eastern Red Cedars I have ever seen. A rare mature Firmiana (Parasol Tree), spectacular bamboos and countless botanical treasures are there waiting to be revealed. Saving this garden will spotlight environmental and cultural values in southwestern Orange County and will effortlessly enhance its political reputation."
Richard Nehrling, great-grandson of Dr. Henry Nehrling, has also been a champion proponent of the gardens. Richard recently received the Unsung Hero Award for Historic Landscape Preservation from the American Society of Landscape Architects Historic Preservation Professional Practice Network.
