GOTHA, Fla. – Nehrling Gardens is a historical 6-acre site in Gotha, Florida, where Henry Nehrling created and experimented with thousands of plants and hybrid palms.
Nehrling was an ornithologist, a horticulturist and a scientist. The Wisconsin native purchased the land in 1885 in order to grow tropical and subtropical plants.
"Caladiums are what he's most famous for, and they are the most beautifully, brilliantly colored plants you can have in Florida. And he had over 1,700 named varieties of caladiums growing on this site," Angela Withers, board president of the Henry Nehrling Society nonprofit organization.
Withers and the organization continues Nehrling's mission of preservation, horticultural education and environmental conservation.
Nehrling is referred to as the patron saint of Florida gardens because of the work he did in the state. He also brought bamboo to Central Florida.
"This is one of Florida's horticultural genesis sites where he developed over 3,000 different palm trees and plants, which are now in your backyard. He introduced bamboos from China and Japan back in the 1880s through 1929," Theresa Schretzmann-Myers, vice president of the organization, said.
Nehrling lived among the gardens with his family in a house that still stands today and is currently under renovation after the Henry Nehrlin Society received a grant from the Florida Division of Historical Resources department.
"That's all the first public money we've received and it's been a godsend but it's a lot of work and it's costing more, as these things do then anticipated, so we're suffering a bit at the moment," Withers said.
Because of the additional expenses, the organization is looking into ways to raise additional funds to maintain and preserve the gardens.
"It was a match for about $58,000 that we raised privately, the state matched us and like Angela said, it was to restore the rotted wood, remove all the lead paint," Schretzmann-Myers said. "Basically we've been restoring tree by tree, foot by foot, yard by yard. There was a tremendous amount of damage done here by Hurricane Irma on many of the old historic trees, palms (and) magnolias, and just doing that our horticultural work has been a huge need for the gardens."
The organization's goal is to create a place for the community to enjoy every day.
"I think in Florida we tend to forget sometimes the remarkable work that made our state what it is today," Withers said. "What we want this to be is an exploration garden, a place where people come and say, 'Wow, isn't that fabulous, and look how that grows and look what happens on a fallen log.' There are not many places left in central Florida that give you the sense of history and beauty."