The bloom of a bauhinia, also known as an orchid tree, lends a pop of purple at Putt’n Around in Delray Beach.
A white hibiscus overlooks the putting green of the 14th hole.
A sea turtle adorns the top of a totem pole in the midst of a firebush hedge.
Black timor bamboo.
Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
Depending on when you visit, you may enjoy the purple trumpets growing among the glossy green leaves on the palay rubber vine. Hibiscus-like flowers that turn white to pale pink to raspberry over time may cover the heirloom Confederate rose that is not really a rose at all. And after dark, you might be lucky enough to enjoy the night-blooming jasmine as its heavy sweet scent fills the air.
You could be at any botanical garden but instead you are at Putt’n Around in Delray Beach.
Here, Elise Johnson and her sons Nicholas, 24, and Daniel, 21, have created much more than just two 18-hole miniature golf courses.
They’ve also planted almost 500 different varieties of shrubs, ground covers, palms, bamboos, trees, flowers and more on their 2.6 acres.
“We feel like the garden brings out the grandparents and people who normally wouldn’t come just for the golf. They come because of the scenery,” says Daniel, who has taken over planting and maintaining the garden.
This all started when Elise noticed hundreds of children lined up to play at a “cheesy nine-hole miniature golf course set up in the street” during a First Night celebration on Atlantic Avenue, explains Daniel.
This was just when her job selling home warranties had crashed along with the housing market. “She came home one day with this crazy idea of starting a miniature golf course and we took it from there,” Daniel says.
When it came to planting their golf courses for their 2010 opening, they discovered that along with the housing market the landscaping business had gone south. That meant they could get a clump of palms that originally cost $35,000 for $4,000.
“Today it would be a whole lot harder to create this,” Daniel says pointing to the greenery.
Take time to enjoy the garden while you tee up. Many specimens are labeled with their botanic, common and Latin names.
Just outside the clubhouse, you’ll see three types of sea oats. They help hide the two pink plastic flamingoes standing nearby.
Take a minute to enjoy the kassod tree with its delicately draping leaves and clusters of star-like yellow flowers. And inhale the fragrant white blooms of a gardenia.
As you move through the course you’ll see a stand of black timor bamboo with its, yes, black stems.
Like bamboo? Play on.
A stand of barballata, thin blue green-bamboo, rises 20 feet in the air. And then there’s the aptly named striped Buddha belly bamboo with its chubby jointed culms.
Two ylang-ylang trees blooming for the first time this year sport yellow flowers that look like the ribs of an umbrella. Recognize their fragrance? These are used to make Chanel No. 5. Next up is a Michelia champaca alba used to make Joy perfume.
“Different things bloom at different times of year so every time you come the garden will have something new,” says Daniel.
Spice is the theme as you play through some other holes. You’ll find a cinnamon spice tree as well as allspice and bay rum trees. Crush their leaves to take advantage of their aromas.
As we walk, a golfer stops Daniel to find out the name of the plant with showy white trumpet-shaped flowers. That’s an angel’s trumpet, he tells her.
And for those with a sense of humor, don’t miss the pony tail palm at the end of the courses. Although it’s not really a palm, its long, thin leaves grow in tufts that resemble — you guessed it — a pony tail.
“We’ve planted just about everything that grows in Florida and more,” says Daniel. Much more.
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.
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