A full-size pirate ship complete with cannons and a gang plank is shaded by massive oak trees
in the side yard of David Nordhausen’s Boca Raton home.
Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Botanical highlights of his yard include: (left) the underside of mature bird’s-nest fern, a heliconia bloom (below) and a vivid red bromeliad (bottom).
By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
If asked to describe the garden at David Nordhausen’s home in Boca Raton, I’d tell you it’s Tarzan meets Captain Kidd. After all, Nordhausen has created the closest thing he could to a jungle in his front yard and, in his side yard, yes, he has a pirate ship complete with plank.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a pirate,” says Nordhausen who is an arborist by profession and a buccaneer for amusement.
He fell in love with lush vegetation after traveling to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean islands. When he got home he realized there wasn’t much in his front yard. “So I decided to create a controlled jungle unlike anything I’d found in Florida,” he says.
This is just one of the homes you can visit as part of the Mounts Connoisseurs Garden Tour on May 11 and 12, sponsored by Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach. In its 10th year, the tour will also feature homes with plenty of bromeliads and tropical fruit trees as well as the “over-the-top” garden of a Palm Beach mansion.
While these gardens are fun to see, the tour is designed to educate. “Our mission is to show people how they can garden in Palm Beach County and to let them experience different styles of gardens,” says Mounts Botanical Garden Director David Sistrunk.
In 1990, Nordhausen bought his property because it had four live oak trees on it. “These trees had never been butchered so they spread way out,” he says. Today they also tower 40 feet into the air.
He added two royal poincianas to create a dense canopy. Then he set his sprinkler system to mist the air. The water trapped under the trees creates the perfect microclimate for his exotic plants.
It’s also a nice place for humans because, on any day, the temperature under the trees is 15 to 20 degrees cooler than anywhere else, he says.
As you follow the Chicago brick paths, you’ll find the giant leaves of the philodendron monstera climbing the trunk of an oak as it reaches for the sun. A giant antler fern hangs from a limb.
The charming fans of the Fiji palm, a banana tree and a spreading travelers palm add to the greenery. And a Japanese maple with delicate orange flowers fills a terra cotta pot.
Stand quietly for a minute and you’ll recognize the rich resonating tones coming from the hand-tuned wind chime in a poinciana tree. Its music fills the air as does the murmur of water spilling over two fountains. On cool nights, Nordhausen lights the fire pit in this outdoor living room.
At the end of his property you come to a large gate made from well-aged wood found in Mexico and dating back to the 1850s. It’s edged with copper and sports hand-forged iron hardware. Don’t miss the carved wood sign announcing that The Defiant, Nordhausen’s pirate ship, is “anchored” behind the gate. The skull and cross bones flag on the fence removes any doubt.
Through the gate you come upon the stern of the ship set under and around a towering oak tree. “At first I thought I’d build a deck that would look like a ship. But when I found a carpenter who loves boats, I decided to build a ship to use as a deck,” he says.
There’s a pier with pilings and a ramp that leads onto the main deck. Notice the authentic cannons and deck guns. Nordhausen says two of the cannons are 10-pound Dutch armaments from 1610.
With all this going on you may have questions about the eclectic mix of plants. Two master gardeners will be stationed at each home on the tour to answer your gardening questions.
Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a certified master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net when she’s not digging in her yard.
If You Go
The Mounts Connoisseurs Garden Tour, May 11 and 12, includes visits to six private gardens on Saturday; and, on Sunday, a garden in Palm Beach plus Mother’s Day Tea at Mounts Botanical Garden, 532 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach, where representatives from local plant societies will answer your gardening questions.
Tour tickets good for both days $25; $20 for Mounts members. At time of purchase, you will receive information about the gardens on the tour and directions. For locations to purchase tickets, visit mounts.org or call 233-1757.
Comments