The Strangler Garden

This garden iconographizes the growth habit of one of Florida’s most infamous trees, the Strangler Fig, Ficus aurea. The Strangler starts it’s life cycle as a seedling- pooped out by a bird, and if lucky landing in the boots of a Sabal Palm, Sabal palmetto. From there the Strangler seedling stretches out its roots down to the soil, thickening until it eventually engulfs its host plant entirely.

The Strangler Garden begins as a grid of Sabal Palms, some seeded with Strangler Fig seedlings, and proceeds to demonstrate the Strangler’s parasitic life cycle. It is a performance played out over decades. Ultimately, the garden will evolve into a canopied forest of Strangler Fig trees and be adorned with an array of native orchids and epiphytes.