KEY WEST CLASSIC

Ar Craig Reynolds
An honest pool within a fantastic grove

◦ Location: Key West, Florida

◦ Completed: 2014
◦ Landscape architect: Craig Reynolds
◦ “An honest pool within a fantastic grove” is what the Danish Industrial Designers
requested when they hired us to design their home away from home. Brick, “a
material that doesn’t try to be showy”, like you see in historic forts around the
island, was chosen as the only hardscape material to add a lived-in character to the
contemporary home design. Large existing multi-trunk palms were relocated to act
as sculptural features. The pool coping was raised to be relevant and purposely split
the garden between the main house and guest house. Tropical understory was
strategically selected to create textural interest and increase the privacy between the
two areas.
◦ A four-foot-high white picket fence is part of the everyday landscape.
◦ The owner wanted to have private areas and little narrow paths and views and
peeks, and at the same time have a landscape that was very lush with lots of shade.
◦ Next to a gnarled banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis), a
ruffled fan palm (Licuala grandis) that’s native to the
tropical South Pacific adds drama to the front garden.
◦ With a mature banyan tree to work around, Reynolds
“really didn’t have to add a lot of extra plants. The tree
really made the front garden.” Banyans are epiphytes
that begin life in a host tree. As a banyan grows, its
aerial roots look as if they’re dripping as they reach
down toward the ground.
The Hardscape
◦ From the vantage of the porch, looking back toward the
front gate, keeping the house hidden
◦ A brick path is edged with layered tropical plants including
at left Anthurium ‘Hot Rio Nights’ and on the right
Kimberly Queen Boston ferns behind a low edging of
mondo grass.
◦ Brick pavers are set in a herringbone pattern on a 45-degree
angle with a soldier course border. “Brick is not indigenous
to Key West, but because of all the Victorian houses it’s very
common, and it looks good,” says Reynolds.
◦ The running bond pattern on the front path continues into the
backyard, where brick is used as coping on the raised lip of the lap
pool,
The coping is so high that it becomes a bench to sit on.”
◦ For a clean, uncluttered look, brick path is edged with Mexican river
rocks and planted Aglaonema ‘Silver Bay’, with variegated leaves to
pick up and reflect the filtered sunlight.
◦ In front of the oolite wall, a mulch of black Mexican river rock
serves the dual purpose of being decorative while directing rainwater
flow.

Mexican river rock Outdoor shower

Plant palette
◦ Specimen plants, including at left a gum palm (Dioon
spinulosum) and in the foreground Elephant Ear (Alocasia
‘Portora’), create a dramatic tropical backdrop for the house.
◦ The oolite wall continues alongside a brick path that winds
around the side of the house. Behind the wall is planted a Florida
silver palm (Coccothrinax argentata) and Aglaonema ‘Silver
Bay’, with silvery foliage that lights up a quiet, shady spot.
◦ Green thatch palms provide shade, their silhouettes echoed by the
understory, where the low, bushy shrub Osmoxylon lineare adds
texture.
◦ Rhapis humilis (slender lady palm) shields the pool and filters
sunlight through its fronds.
◦ a lot of palms around the pool area because the homeowner
wanted it really full—hiding the guest cottage that is behind the Poolside view from guest house and away Coral steps and brick pavement
house full to look like a jungle; those fronds fall over the pool and
feel like in a river somewhere.
◦ Edging a walkway is low-growing wart fern (Phymatosorus scolopendria), a
graceful ground cover that adds texture and a layer of deep green color to the
landscape.
◦ Neoregelia ‘Bossa Nova’, a bromeliad with dark green leaves with silvery
undersides, creates an understory for the palms. Behind the bromeliads at water’s
edge is Alocasia, known as elephant ears (a popular houseplant in non tropical
climates).
◦ Visible at right is the guesthouse, which has doors that open onto the pool. The
homeowners “specifically asked for palms to be planted there so you have to look
through trunks to see the pool,”
◦ With palms and other tropical plants strategically sited on the property, the garden
appears much larger than its true size.
Shade tolerant tropical plants(typical)
◦ Elephant ears (Colocasia)
◦ Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus)
◦ Golden shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea)
◦ Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
◦ Kaffir lily (Clivia)
◦ Red aglaonema (Aglaonema spp.)
◦ Giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai)
◦ Violets (Viola)
Trees Shrubs, covers climbers
◦ Banyan tree • Philodendrons
◦ Slender lady palm (Rhapis humilis) • Mondo grass
• Orchids
◦ Sabal palms • Flowering vines
• Staghorn ferns
◦ Dense lady palms • ruffled fan palm
◦ Alexander palms • Elephant Ear (Alocasia ‘Portora’)
• Aglaonema
◦ Crab wood • Osmoxylon lineare
◦ Spanish lime
◦ Specimen date palm
◦ Specimen simpson stopper
◦ gum palm (Dioon spinulosum)
◦ Florida silver palm (Coccothrinax argentata)
Hardscape palette
◦ Oolite walls
◦ Coral steps
◦ Brick paving
◦ Grey Gravel walkways
◦ Mexican river rocks
◦ Coral slabs
Details