The Naturalist
Ellin Goetz
Photographer by Vanessa Rogers at the Naples Botanical Garden
Landscape architect Ellin Goetz remembers the day, many years ago, when she was walking through New York’s Central Park and realized it’s the greatest piece of architecture in the city. Goetz believes the landscape in Florida holds that same importance and, since moving to Naples in 1984, has been exquisitely illustrating that belief for public consumption. Goetz’s green thumbprint can be found everywhere from the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers and The von Liebig Art Center to Mackle Park in Marco Island and stunning yards along residential streets in Port Royal. She is most likely best known for the Naples Botanical Garden expansion and renovation. Since the garden’s reopening in 2009, more than 200,000 visitors have experienced Goetz’s creation, which includes bubbles of lush exotic flora representative of areas like Brazil and Asia wrapped within the ecological essence of South Florida. “That’s what attracted me to being a landscape architect—engaging people with their environment,” she says. Goetz’s passion for nature extends beyond enhancement to preservation, with involvement in Conservation Collier and more recently the Everglades Foundation. “The whole history of Florida is men trying to drain the swamp, and as soon as they finished, they realized they screwed up.”
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