Orlando Sentinel / Jun 14, 2006

Magazine puts spotlight on Nehrling Gardens, cottage

ORANGE COUNTY -- The Henry Nehrling Gardens and Palm Cottage in Gotha are featured in the June 2006 issue of Garden Design magazine, published by the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C.

The historic gardens and cottage of the late botanist Henry Nehrling have been spared the developer's bulldozer in recent months through the efforts of the Henry Nehrling Society, which has bought the property. The group is still working to raise enough money to restore the gardens.

Nehrling is credited with single-handedly creating Florida's floral industry.

In addition to being featured along with other gardens across the country, the Nehrling Gardens made the magazine's "Landslide" list of culturally significant gardens across the nation threatened with being destroyed or lost.

The list comes out every two years and is intended to increase the public's awareness of the important legacy of landscapes and the importance of preserving them, said Nehrling's grandson, Richard Nehrling of Jacksonville.

"This just reinforces what we've been saying all along," he said. "This garden is important and worth saving."

David Damron, Robert Perez and Rich McKay of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Copyright (c) 2006, Orlando Sentinel