CONSERVE RARE AND ENDANGERED PLANTS IN A UNIQUE EXOTIC TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN
ON THE LAST UNDEVELOPED WOODED ACRE OF LAND IN THE HEART OLD TOWN KEY WEST
NANCY FORRESTER'S SECRET GARDEN This rainforest garden is unique. All other botanical gardens in the continental United States must house their cold sentitive plants in warm conservatories. Because the lower keys are frost-free, ours thrive outdoors. This jewel of lush vegetation is a place of peace and beauty for all to enjoy and an important repository for rare and endangered plants species from around the world. The collection is a valuable resource for education and conservation. Along the pathway throught this jungle you will see hundreds of species native to the tropical forests of Central Americas, South America, Central Africa, Southern Mexico, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonoia, and the Mascarene and Seychelle Islands. Our major plant groups are palms and aroids. There are palms too numerous to count representing over 100 species and thousands of aroids including alocacias, colocasias, xanthosomas, rare philodendrons, anthuriums, dieffenbachias, aglaonemas and several flowering amorphophalluses. Numerous ferns grace the garden including tree ferns and four large rare Angiopterous species. There are noteable collections of miniture bromeliads, orchids, fruit trees, and endangered cycads. Mana Project provides education and plant identification. |