June 6, 2024
Landscape Architecture Magazine
Miami’s Vizcaya Museum and Gardens recovers from design drift in the face of rising seas.
When the chief horticulturist Ian Simpkins began work at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami in 2007, he faced many challenges. As a public park, it had been more managed than preserved, reducing the integrity of the garden’s original design. Frequent high water had destabilized structures, causing the closure of the Marine Garden, one of several distinct gardens on the estate, and growing conditions had shifted so much that the name Rose Garden had become a misnomer. Just one year after he came on board, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the estate as one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places.
