Connecting People to Wellness Through Landscape Design
Not far from the excitement of Disney World and the crashing waves along the beaches of Florida’s Atlantic Coast sits a relatively quiet city park poised to become a regional asset. Projected for completion in 2025, the core of the existing 209-acre, family-friendly public park will be transformed into a wellness park—a series of cultivated gardens and buildings. Visitors will be invited to taste, learn and exercise as they experience the unique beauty of Central Florida’s subtropical flora.
History
Tucker Ranch once provided beef cattle for the region west of Orlando, Florida. In 2011, the city of Winter Garden purchased the land from the Tucker family, whose wish was for it to become a city park. With a state grant, the city invested in creating the Tucker Recreational Park and Nature Preserve, which opened to the public in 2018 offering a playground, picnic area, nature trails and a paddle craft launch on Johns Lake.
Vision
The city of Winter Garden has developed a vision of a smaller botanical garden within a larger park, a cultivated centerpiece that will reflect the fecundity of the surrounding nature. “The vision is to create an attractive destination that will inspire and educate,” says Principal Designer Tres Fromme. “It will be a beautiful way of drawing people into the site and orienting them as they are invited to move on to the trails, the lake or a walk through the woods.”
Tres, who the city of Winter Garden contacted because of his work as the lead designer on the Edible Garden in the Atlanta Botanical Garden, says,
"As a society, there needs to be more
awareness of the benefits of health & wellness
tied to the outdoors & nature."
One of the main goals is to get people outside to pursue wellness through exercise, getting in touch with plants and learning about nutrition. To form and realize this vision, Fromme brought in Landscape Architect Chris Barkley of HDLA, who he has worked with on various projects over the past 16 years, to partner with on Tucker Ranch.
Chris says, “For this project specifically, HDLA is focused on bringing the project vision to life—from initial concept ideation working alongside Tres to project management, consultant coordination, budget development, technical drawings and following it through construction administration.”
Tres jokes that “Chris loves spreadsheets because he can put numbers in them. I love spreadsheets because I can fill them with plant names.”
Design, Build & Maintain
Working with city representatives, along with input from the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange, a series of three design concepts gave way to one. Tres and Chris interfaced closely during a back-and-forth of ideas that helped shape the city’s vision of the wellness park. Throughout the process, they kept a realistic eye on implementation and maintenance considerations.
“We've worked very closely with Laura Coar, Winter Garden’s director of parks and recreation, who is an amazing horticulturalist,” says Tre. “She formerly worked at Disney in horticulture; she really gets how plants, gardens and landscapes positively affect people. Having her at the table from the very beginning, even in the master planning phase, was critical. We were able to have conversations about what the needs are and ask the questions ‘What are you able to maintain?’ ‘What kind of staff do you have?’ ‘Is it seasonal or full-time?’”
Chris adds, “This is a large undertaking for the city. There's a completely different level of maintenance from your typical park maintenance. It was good that we could have those conversations on the front end and have someone with Laura’s background and experience at the table.”
The design includes plantings throughout, with various gardens focused on creating spaces to enjoy fragrance, meditation and storytelling. Native plantings will be featured as well as heirloom Florida garden plants. A potager, or kitchen garden, will feature rotating annuals like tomatoes, lettuce and kale, as well as herbs. An orchard will produce fruits of various types. Edible home landscape demonstration plantings will show visitors what they can plant in their own spaces for eating at home. A mix of perennial shrubs and flowering plants will form the pollinator garden leading to the demonstration kitchen, where local chefs will teach garden-to-table techniques. “As you're sitting there, you're looking at all the vegetables that will be sacrificing themselves so that you can eat them,” says Tres.
“The plant list is enormous,” Tres continues. “One of the fun challenges will be how do we find it all? As we start seeing what is available and in what sizes, we might have to try plants that are marginally hardy in USDA hardiness zone 9b. We are very open to the fact that our cultivars might have to change. For example, we have several different cultivars of Loquat. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some that are bigger than two inches high, or we may have to figure out something else. Coar has been very clear and open about how this is going to change and evolve as we go into plant selection. Laura has noted that a part of the function of the gardens is to test new plants and to see what happens; she has been open to trying things out.”
Tres and Chris worked with Hastings Architecture of Nashville on the buildings. The design process focused on serving access and yards early on—carefully locating access to back-of-house functions like custodial closets, dumpsters and horticultural service areas so as not to interrupt the day-to-day goings on of the wellness park. With input from Cyril Stewart, who specializes in historical architecture, they arrived at building designs that reflect a modern interpretation of the Florida cracker style with elements like wrap-around screened porches, walls that fold open in temperate weather and a welcoming outdoor hearth.
Current Status Of Project
As of spring 2023, the wellness park project was in the construction documentation phase and planning to wrap up by the end of the season. Tres and Chris are hopeful for a groundbreaking before the end of the year and, barring any extreme weather events, to have it completed in 18 months.
The city is funding the main portion of the wellness park with significant additional funding from the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange and Advent Health. They are pursuing state funds and are confident their vision will attract the support of various other health-focused organizations.
“The city has been very clear all along that they did not want to phase this project,” says Chris. “They've been committed to finding the funding and the resources to make it a reality in one phase. Not many municipalities are committed to doing that.”
Chris, who has designed projects worldwide, also notes, “The funding mechanisms and the public-private partnership are incredibly unique and could be a model for other municipalities.”
For years, Tucker Ranch has been humbly drawing locals to play in the shade of its oak trees and wander its nature trails. With the realization of the wellness park, Tucker Ranch will become a destination not only for its natural beauty, but also for this cultivated centerpiece within the larger park.
Tucker Ranch is poised to become both a regional asset and a standard bearer for the future development of health and wellness parks in other cities. As Winter Garden’s vision becomes a reality, Tucker Ranch will be a regional destination for mental, spiritual and physical nourishment.
Since 1996, Tres Fromme has collaborated with public gardens throughout the world, all who have unique identities, cultural and ecological contexts, missions and horticultural palettes. He explores and activates the range of possibilities for diverse visitors inherent in garden
spaces. These powerful experiences spark deep involvement and relationships among people, plants and specific places. His work creatively innovates within the diverse traditions, contexts and functions of each project.
HDLA, established in 1985, provides comprehensive landscape architecture and master planning services throughout the United States. HDLA focuses on creating meaningful and impactful spaces that reflect a refined beauty and authenticity, while telling the story of place; spaces that make users more aware, attached and conscious of our collective experience as humans. While inspired and informed by their collective experiences, HDLA views success through the lens of meeting project-specific goals and creating memorable places of beauty that foster activity, community and engagement.