A Garden Club Tour

One hundred years ago, Eunice Peacock Merrick, wife of Coral Gables founder George Merrick, and Althea Merrick, George’s mother, joined a group of civic women to form the Coral Gables Garden Club. Their mission: to help beautify the city and educate its residents in gardening and horticulture. Their accomplishments over the years include the construction of three city entrances, the bronze statue of George Merrick at City Hall, the bronze statue of Althea Merrick at the Merrick House on Coral Way,and myriad public planting projects. To help raise funds for its programs, this year the Garden Club held its Centennial Home & Garden Tour, opening six homes and gardens to the public; several are homes of past club presidents and one the home of current President Bonnie Siepp. While ticket holders were invited to tour inside the historic and stately homes, we were interested only in the gardens. This is the Garden Club tour, after all. Here, then, are glimpses of gardens from last month’s Centennial Tour.

The Presidents Tea, staffed by Coral Gables Garden Club volunteers, is a popular stop
for Garden Tour visitors to enjoy a complimentary iced drink. This year, the Presidents
Tea was located at 918 South Greenway.

This 1925 house was designed by architect H. George Fink (Coral Gables Water Tower, La Palma Hotel). Its principal garden area isa lawn along the western side of the home, flanked by a pair of gumbo limbo trees and a rare Mabolo tree (native to the Philippines). Other plants that grace the garden are Coville’s Glory (native to Madagascar), Bailey’s Palm, a Floss Silk tree, a wild sage shrub, Florida Firebush, and Justica Orange Flame. An endearing potting shed completes the picture.

Built in 1926, this elegant home was designed by architect Lee I. Wade, who also designed the building where Books & Books is currently located on Aragon Avenue. The backyard features a pool with a mosaic floor designed by homeowner Ray Corral, aka The Mosaicist. The limited yard space is deftly partitioned into a space for a fire pit and another for a Japanese garden with bonsai trees. Especially charming are the broderie hedge patterns in the front yard.

This 1935 house was designed by the firm of legendary architect Phineas Paist and partner Harold Steward, but it is the western yard of the house that makes it spectacular. The space is a colorful tropical jungle, with layers of palms – fishtail palms, bamboo palms, coconut palms – under majestic oak and gumbo limbo trees, variegated with ginger plants, begonias, monsteras, Boston ferns, orange and white birds of paradise, and many, many more. A stone circular water fountain also sets the tone.

This Spanish style historic-looking house was actually built in 1999, on three assembled lots. The building is extensive and surrounds a pool with logia and separate guest house. But for our visit, we most appreciated the northeast side garden, with its centerpiece live oak surrounded by a large planting bed and monsteras behind it against the guesthouse. Along the iron fence that contains this side garden are Cape Honeysuckle, which bloom bright orange.

This home, recessed behind a coral rock wall at the intersection of Coral Way and Granada Boulevard, was designed by the famed Phineas Paist (City Hall, etc.) and built in 1925. The garden holds several specimen plants, including a poinciana with three enormous Staghorn Ferns, two mature Royal Palms, and ancient cycad plants rarely seen outside of Fairchild and Montgomery botanic gardens. Especially elegant are its use of heliconias as a green fence in lieu of a hedge cover.

This home was built in 1924, and has a special significance for the Garden Club. It was occupied from 1924 to 1926 by respected physician and community leader William McKibben, whose wife Olive was the first president of the club. Its distinct garden elements include a trophy Phoenix date palm surrounded by a circular broderie hedge. It also used cypress trees to frame the house, with a couple of very tall coconut palms for tropical flare. Also has a hidden courtyard with wrought iron gateway.


Photos by Rodolfo Benitez

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