Historic gardens raising funds to rebuild

The bent bamboo trees are rubbing against each other in the afternoon breeze, sounding like the metal chain of a swaying porch swing. Traffic, once a distant and muffled sound, is louder now that the canopy has been stripped of its leaves and limbs.

Nehrling Gardens, the former home of famed horticulturalist Henry Nehrling, sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Irma on Sept. 11. The board of directors for the six-acre property in Gotha has set up a Fallen Giants Tree Fund to help pay to remove debris, cut down and haul away damaged limbs and trees and restore the gardens to their former lush setting.

Angela Withers, board president, said the gardens lost four major oak trees, one huge magnolia tree, several historic palms and up to a dozen other important trees. Half of the bamboo trees snapped off, and many of the new plantings were crushed by falling limbs.

Several Boy Scout Eagle projects were damaged, too.

Remarkably, Withers said, Dr. Nehrling's frame vernacular home, built in the 1880s, withstood the storm with no wind damage and minimal structural damage from a large laurel oak that was uprooted on the north side of the driveway.

Withers said some of the downed trees and limbs are so large that a professional arborist will have to be hired to safely remove them.

It will cost at least $4,000 to cut down and haul away the tree by the driveway, she said.

“This is something the volunteers can't do,” Withers said. “It's too dangerous.

SURVIVING THE STORM

David Chomanics, the resident caretaker and ecology specialist, was busy preparing the property for the impending hurricane, trimming trees and cutting back bushes. He and Withers's husband, Stephen, secured anything that might blow away in the fierce winds.

One of the birdhouses they took inside was actually being occupied by a flying squirrel and her four babies. After the storm had passed, Chomanics returned the family outdoors and began assessing the damage and noting what had been spared.

Among the surviving plants is a palm tree on the south side of the house that was planted more than 250 years ago, Chomanics said.

In the days after the hurricane struck, he was out staking up some of the smaller fallen trees and clearing paths.

“We've made great strides,” Withers said.

Birds and animals have had to find alternative living spaces, such as the woodpeckers that took up residency in the eucalyptus tree, now broken in two.

Once the cleanup is complete, Withers wants to have a landscape architect walk around the gardens and suggest where to rebuild and replant.

“But first, we clean up and then see what we can salvage,” Chomanics said.

The board and staff are eager to get Nehrling Gardens back to its pre-hurricane condition as quickly as possible, as the annual Holiday Amaryllis Festival is Saturday, Dec. 9.

“We have a goal,” Withers said. “We'll get back.”