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Coastal Wilderness Marks 1920s South Florida Garden
Coastal wilderness marks 1920s south Florida garden.
I recently went back in time along the coast of South Florida to visit an island garden from the 1920s.
In Fort Lauderdale Frederic Clay Barrett and his wife Helen built the house with its garden called Bonnet House on Birch Street. The street is named after Hugh Taylor Birch, Mrs. Barrett’s father who gave the thirty-five acres as a wedding gift.
Bonnet House is situated on a coastal barrier island with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Intracoastal Waterway to the west.
Barrier islands protect the mainland from the impact of the ocean tides and currents and also provide a habitat for many kinds of wildlife.
The gardens at the Bonnet House present a visitor with several areas of both desert and tropical plants.
Barrett planted a desert garden near the main house. The garden measures three-fourths’ of an acre and serves as a transition area for the natural barrier island habitat to the south and the main house to the north.
Main House
The house was built in southern plantation style. [below]
A near-by lily pond features the bonnet lily, after which the house was named, and provides a respite for the visitor.
Mrs. Barrett collected orchids and housed them in the Orchid House, also not far from the main house.
An alley of palm trees [below] ends up at a fountain, designed and built by Barrett, who, along with his wife, was an artist.
The beach path leads you right up to a black iron fence separating the property from the beach. Many trees and shrubs line the path, holding in the soil but also teaching a visitor what the land looked like before the commercial development in the area.
Near the house six tall Hibiscus shrubs have become a dense screen of green leaves with orange and red flowers which were in bloom during my visit. [below]
Visiting this garden is a trip back in time. Bonnet House also lets you see what the Florida coast looked like before the many condos and hotels lined Fort Lauderdale’s beach.
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