Don not always spead laughter and smiles the birds do A lot of people tried to help Nancy Forrester in her efforts to save this last acre of undeveloped land in heart of old town Key West. They did not succeed and it was lost to development in 2012Once upon a time there was a place called Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden. It was a beautiful and magical place. Tree spirits lived there and they could put the spell of love on you.
The lessons we can learn from this sad story can make us stronger!
The lessons we can learn from this sad story can make us stronger!
where I sing and lay my eggs.
Roxanne Roxbury from England said ‘It’s like walking into a dream”
Mark Caputo of Key West, said it’s “Jurassic Park” sans Dinosaurs.”
Steven Steven's from the Dispatch called it an "Oasis of Sanity"
Charles Kuralt said in Charles Kuralt’s America “... you can easily get lost in the
beauty of the place”.
Nancy Forrester says; this is beauty with a purpose, When you come to be
entertained, to get lost, to seek beauty and to have fun. "THE SECRET" will cast a
magic spell on you. You will metamorphose into an environmental activist.
Roxanne Roxbury from England said ‘It’s like walking into a dream”
Mark Caputo of Key West, said it’s “Jurassic Park” sans Dinosaurs.”
Steven Steven's from the Dispatch called it an "Oasis of Sanity"
Charles Kuralt said in Charles Kuralt’s America “... you can easily get lost in the
beauty of the place”.
Nancy Forrester says; this is beauty with a purpose, When you come to be
entertained, to get lost, to seek beauty and to have fun. "THE SECRET" will cast a
magic spell on you. You will metamorphose into an environmental activist.
When visitors arrived they had little prior knowledge that her
passion, was not gardening, or installing beautiful plants in
her back yard for the amusement of the public.
She was an environment artist who used a
complex mix of contemporary artistic disciplines in a
visionary environment for the purpose of saving it from developement
“As an Eco-artist, she created a powerful evocative spectacle of plants
on an important site to activate the place and bring witnesses. This precious
land, its special topography, its sink hole, its history with the Calossa Indians
was not just the setting for the her art work but an integral part of the art. The tensions between high density
development all around her and the open space
was extreme!” There was a dire need for human
collaboration to save this precious land.
“She used plants to create an intensely energized bio-mass.
Floribunda in all its glorious shapes, colors, patterns,
textures, and scents were selected to flex the human senses and mind,
to summon “le jungle”, the wild within us, to counter and
stop the beast at the gate which wanted to pave the place
and the whole planet.”
Because the material and site challenged credulity, it was a
place to experience how we experience. Her interactive
displays along the paths aided specific reading of the work,
promoted collaboration and vital interaction between
people and plants. The point was make the site know and save it from the developers.
the spell of the sensuous.
passion, was not gardening, or installing beautiful plants in
her back yard for the amusement of the public.
She was an environment artist who used a
complex mix of contemporary artistic disciplines in a
visionary environment for the purpose of saving it from developement
“As an Eco-artist, she created a powerful evocative spectacle of plants
on an important site to activate the place and bring witnesses. This precious
land, its special topography, its sink hole, its history with the Calossa Indians
was not just the setting for the her art work but an integral part of the art. The tensions between high density
development all around her and the open space
was extreme!” There was a dire need for human
collaboration to save this precious land.
“She used plants to create an intensely energized bio-mass.
Floribunda in all its glorious shapes, colors, patterns,
textures, and scents were selected to flex the human senses and mind,
to summon “le jungle”, the wild within us, to counter and
stop the beast at the gate which wanted to pave the place
and the whole planet.”
Because the material and site challenged credulity, it was a
place to experience how we experience. Her interactive
displays along the paths aided specific reading of the work,
promoted collaboration and vital interaction between
people and plants. The point was make the site know and save it from the developers.
the spell of the sensuous.
CAT ORCHID by Joe A. Frankie
Share love for nature
Behold rainforest color, shape and pattern,
romantic palms in every shade of green,
pastel Datura's, white, pink, yellow, and peach,
orchids of every hue,
the vibrant colors of bougainvillea and
heliconias, soft tree ferns, giant elephant ears.
Smell the fresh air fragrant with spice trees
Relax in cool shade gratis of the
centurion trees
Taste exotic fruit (seasonal)
Hear soft rustling palms, gently creaking
bamboo and the sounds of an animate terrain;
birds calls, frogs, dragonflies, hummingbirds.
The entrance to Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden
is at the end of Free School Lane photo by Cynthia Brown
Behold rainforest color, shape and pattern,
romantic palms in every shade of green,
pastel Datura's, white, pink, yellow, and peach,
orchids of every hue,
the vibrant colors of bougainvillea and
heliconias, soft tree ferns, giant elephant ears.
Smell the fresh air fragrant with spice trees
Relax in cool shade gratis of the
centurion trees
Taste exotic fruit (seasonal)
Hear soft rustling palms, gently creaking
bamboo and the sounds of an animate terrain;
birds calls, frogs, dragonflies, hummingbirds.
The entrance to Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden
is at the end of Free School Lane photo by Cynthia Brown
Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden
Land Art by artist-activist Nancy
Forrester
Jesper Roos, age six:
Nancy's Garden is
like a giant lung it
provides fresh air for
all of Key West.
This "garden" does not fit into traditional garden design. The site is not an
ALL PLANT GARDEN dedicated to horticultural function, decoration, or display.
This site is open to the public as an IDEA GARDEN. It is a form of persuasion A place
where the artist can express her highly personal and frequently unorthodox beliefs about the
proper use of money and healthful living. It is a handmade environment that expresses a
personal moral conviction. Where I quote at length my own poignant and tragic story. Where
the environment surrounds and envelopes the two historical buildings
It express profoundly personal far-flung garden richly rewarding and inspiring. Fiercely
independent individual handmade environment years of obsessive work expresses profoundly
personal and frequently orthodox beliefs form of persuasion a place to make public the creator
heartfelt ideas about the past and the future or healthful living the form it took was no materials
no brick no mortar extraordinary signage. Individual unique creation. How does it fit into
traditional garden design religious architecture environmental sculpture and folk art.as an artist
I have the compulsion to create the sense of place, an inflamed visionary spirit quoted at lenght
by my own poignant and pungent commentary on what they have created and why A site
endowed with public concepts botanical value, a naturalized woodland garden
nicknamed Key West's rain forest, with aroids, fern orchids, and 150 different kinds of
palms, historical and cultural value, Centurion fruit trees planted by the Conchs 100
years ago, environmental value (last acre of undeveloped wooded land in the heart of old
town) artistic value beautiful jewel of the tropics, magnet for artists and naturalists .
Sanctuary value used for sensory perception for peace for therapy ceremonies resting
place for the deceased skeptical acceptance idiosyncratic genus tenacious faith and
un-alienated labor. An art that aspires to say much compelling subject hand made
environment that express a personal ans moral vision I chose on my birthday to identify
myself as an artist and identified by others Environment surrounds and engulfs the
houses result of many years of work material world challenges credulity little prior
knowledge. language of art environment outsider, isolate,eccentric,grassroots
vernacular,naive a distance from conventions and high culture. perjorative as well.
creation marginal status stress isolation and art born of social and cultural circumstances.
Looks like a Word garden in a particular way. Garden collection of plants Garden a private
space a collection of plants intended as a place of refuge or leisure. it is the prevailing
metaphor for paradise exalted sense humble sense a patch of earth from which we coax
our food. Garden is a bounded space brought under control/ to some measure of
perfection creato endows with particular personal meanings. to share with the world. My
garden is where my private speculation makes it appearance before the public I defined a
conception of nature and its place in the world.
Land Art by artist-activist Nancy
Forrester
Jesper Roos, age six:
Nancy's Garden is
like a giant lung it
provides fresh air for
all of Key West.
This "garden" does not fit into traditional garden design. The site is not an
ALL PLANT GARDEN dedicated to horticultural function, decoration, or display.
This site is open to the public as an IDEA GARDEN. It is a form of persuasion A place
where the artist can express her highly personal and frequently unorthodox beliefs about the
proper use of money and healthful living. It is a handmade environment that expresses a
personal moral conviction. Where I quote at length my own poignant and tragic story. Where
the environment surrounds and envelopes the two historical buildings
It express profoundly personal far-flung garden richly rewarding and inspiring. Fiercely
independent individual handmade environment years of obsessive work expresses profoundly
personal and frequently orthodox beliefs form of persuasion a place to make public the creator
heartfelt ideas about the past and the future or healthful living the form it took was no materials
no brick no mortar extraordinary signage. Individual unique creation. How does it fit into
traditional garden design religious architecture environmental sculpture and folk art.as an artist
I have the compulsion to create the sense of place, an inflamed visionary spirit quoted at lenght
by my own poignant and pungent commentary on what they have created and why A site
endowed with public concepts botanical value, a naturalized woodland garden
nicknamed Key West's rain forest, with aroids, fern orchids, and 150 different kinds of
palms, historical and cultural value, Centurion fruit trees planted by the Conchs 100
years ago, environmental value (last acre of undeveloped wooded land in the heart of old
town) artistic value beautiful jewel of the tropics, magnet for artists and naturalists .
Sanctuary value used for sensory perception for peace for therapy ceremonies resting
place for the deceased skeptical acceptance idiosyncratic genus tenacious faith and
un-alienated labor. An art that aspires to say much compelling subject hand made
environment that express a personal ans moral vision I chose on my birthday to identify
myself as an artist and identified by others Environment surrounds and engulfs the
houses result of many years of work material world challenges credulity little prior
knowledge. language of art environment outsider, isolate,eccentric,grassroots
vernacular,naive a distance from conventions and high culture. perjorative as well.
creation marginal status stress isolation and art born of social and cultural circumstances.
Looks like a Word garden in a particular way. Garden collection of plants Garden a private
space a collection of plants intended as a place of refuge or leisure. it is the prevailing
metaphor for paradise exalted sense humble sense a patch of earth from which we coax
our food. Garden is a bounded space brought under control/ to some measure of
perfection creato endows with particular personal meanings. to share with the world. My
garden is where my private speculation makes it appearance before the public I defined a
conception of nature and its place in the world.