McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach

McKee Botanical Garden is an 18-acre historic jungle garden at 350 US Highway 1 in Vero Beach, the saved remnant of McKee Jungle Gardens, one of Florida's earliest tourist attractions.

The state historical marker at 350 U.S. 1 calls the site the original location of McKee Jungle Gardens and records its listing in the National Register of Historic Places in January 1998 (McKee Jungle Gardens historical marker). The garden gives its contact as 350 US Highway 1, Vero Beach, FL 32962, phone 772-794-0601 (McKee Botanical Garden FAQ), and describes more than 10,000 plants on the 18 acres, along with recognition as a Florida Heritage Landmark and winner of The Garden Conservancy's Jean and John Greene Prize (McKee visit page).

On a Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture page written by garden staff, McKee describes itself as an 18-acre tropical hammock in Vero Beach with one of the largest waterlily collections in Florida, and says state support helps fund its Children's Activity Guide (Florida Division of Arts and Culture spotlight). The garden sets its own hours and charges admission, as listed below. Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the McKee Jungle Gardens state marker, the 1994 Driftwood Inn National Register form, the state arts division page and the garden's own visit, ticket and history pages.

McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00am to 5:00pm, with the last ticket sold at 4:00pm, and adult admission costs $25.00.

The garden is closed Mondays and major holidays, the Garden Cafe runs Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00am to 3:00pm, and the Children's Garden closes at 4:30pm daily (McKee visit page). The cafe does not require garden admission, which makes it a practical stop for a lunch on US 1 without a ticket. Prices below come from the garden's ticket portal (McKee daily tickets).

The Community Days weekends are part of McKee's centennial and are limited to Indian River County residents with ID; the garden calls them four weekends but lists three sets of dates (McKee Community Days). The garden also lists a free Wonders of McKee guided tour every Tuesday at 10:30 AM starting October 6, not meant for groups or school tours (McKee visit page).

McKee Jungle Gardens was created by Vero Beach pioneer Waldo Sexton and Cleveland industrialist Arthur McKee, who hired landscape architect William Lyman Phillips to shape 80 acres of tropical hammock; the state marker dates the founding to 1932.

The marker says Phillips had designed Fairchild Tropical Gardens and Bok Tower Gardens, and that the Vero Beach attraction held native and imported tropical plants, an aviary, resident monkeys and an alligator named Ole Mac (McKee Jungle Gardens marker). Its showpiece was the Cathedral of Palms, more than 300 royal palms planted in precise rows. The 1994 National Register form for Sexton's Driftwood Inn adds that Sexton was a partner with McKee in the garden and was reportedly the idea man for the early 1930s attraction (National Register registration form, Driftwood Inn).

The garden's own account starts earlier: McKee and Sexton bought the 80-acre hammock in 1922 meaning to grow citrus, then decided the land was too special to clear (McKee mission and history). Its tour description mentions plant explorers bringing back exotic specimens in 1926, and the garden says it is celebrating its Centennial with this season's Community Days (McKee visit page). The state marker's 1932 founding date and the garden's 1922 purchase date describe different milestones, and neither the marker nor the 1994 form, which calls McKee an early 1930s attraction, gives a 1926 date for the Centennial the garden is celebrating.

McKee Jungle Gardens drew about 100,000 visitors a year at its peak but closed in 1976, and its last 18 acres were later rescued by the Indian River Land Trust and county residents.

The marker says the Vero Beach garden could not compete with new theme parks nearby, that most of the acreage became a golf course and condominiums, and that the remaining 18 acres, now McKee Botanical Garden, were saved from destruction by the Indian River Land Trust and the citizens of Indian River County (McKee Jungle Gardens marker). The National Register form for the Driftwood, written in 1994 before the rescue, noted that McKee's Jungle Gardens had closed in the 1970s and that its integrity was then unknown (National Register registration form).

The garden's history says the land was sold to condominium developers after the closing, that the surviving 18 acres lay dormant for 20 years, and that volunteers cleared the trails before the formal dedication of the restored and renamed McKee Botanical Garden on November 18, 2001 (McKee mission and history). The marker places the National Register listing in January 1998, three years before that dedication.

The three structures McKee calls its architectural icons are Waldo Sexton's 1941 Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen, joined in 2002 by a Bamboo Pavilion, all on the Vero Beach garden grounds.

The garden says the Hall of Giants was built in 1941 around The Board, a 35-foot slab of kalantas mahogany from the Philippines (McKee architectural icons). The Spanish Kitchen, designed by Sexton the same year, had a central grill said to cook 100 steaks at once. The Bamboo Pavilion, completed in 2002 and designed by bamboo architect Jorg Stamm with nearly 350 stems of Guadua bamboo, is described by the garden as the first engineered bamboo structure in the United States to receive a building permit.

The garden's history says the Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen were restored to Sexton's original vision (McKee mission and history). Newer is the Children's Garden, which the garden says opened in January 2020, with a Monkey Bridge, a Water Lily Fountain, the Karst Splash Pad and a Scorpion Pirate Shipwreck (McKee visit page). Another Sexton landmark, the Driftwood Inn, is documented in detail in its 1994 National Register form (National Register registration form).

McKee's Vero Beach paths are wheelchair accessible, only ADA service animals are admitted, and professional photography needs approval and a fee.

The garden offers three complimentary wheelchairs on a first come, first served basis, accessible parking in the central lot and accessible restrooms between the gift shop and cafe and in the Children's Garden (McKee visit page). Emotional support and companionship animals do not qualify as service animals. Casual personal photos are welcome; promotional or commercial sessions require prior approval and a $300 fee, personal photo shoots cost $250 for up to 2 hours, and drones and wedding photography are not allowed.

Groups and school field trips book through the McKee Volunteer and Education Manager at 772.794.0601, ext. 113. For a first visit, a Tuesday morning gives the free 10:30 AM tour, and an Indian River County resident can wait for a $5 Community Days weekend such as February 20 and 21 (McKee Community Days).

A McKee visit pairs naturally with the Driftwood Inn at 3150 Ocean Drive, the Sexton building its 1994 National Register form calls the least altered of his Vero Beach enterprises.

The 1994 registration form names the Driftwood Inn and its 1947 restaurant as the best known, most representative and least altered of Sexton's Vero Beach businesses, and lists others that had been altered by 1994: the Patio on 21st Street near downtown, built in the 1930s and once leased as one of the original Howard Johnson ice cream parlors; the Ocean Grill at 1050 Sexton Plaza, built in 1941; and the Turf Club on 43rd Avenue from the late 1950s (National Register registration form). In 1994 the form judged McKee's Jungle Gardens the only other Sexton property that might qualify for the Register; the state marker records that the garden was listed in January 1998 (McKee Jungle Gardens marker).

McKee sits on US Highway 1, while the Driftwood stands on the beach about 200 feet back from Ocean Drive (National Register registration form). McKee's Garden Cafe serves lunch until 3:00pm without a garden ticket (McKee visit page).