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Victor Lazzari is a professional landscape designer, horticulturist, and garden writer originally from the hilly farm country of Maryland, where his love of gardening first took hold as a young child. He holds a BA in Landscape Design (University of Maryland), an MA in Landscape Architecture (Florida International University), and a Masters Certificate in Agroecology (also FIU).

A Florida resident since 2007, Victor’s areas of expertise within South Florida horticulture include herbaceous flowering plants, bulbs, cottage gardens, and roses (yes, roses!). He is an active guest speaker at various garden clubs and botanical gardens throughout the state. His first book, 100 Roses for the South Florida Garden, was recently published by the University Press of Florida. UPF is also publishing his second book, tentatively titled The South Florida Cottage Garden sometime in 2026.

In his spare time, Victor works as a freelance features writer for Horticulture magazine, proudly giving the South Florida gardening community a seat at the table in the broader dialogue of North American horticulture.

Program: Gertrude Jekyll and the South Florida Cottage Garden.

In the late 1800s, at a time when women did not work outside the home, Gertrude Jekyll — a talented painter, photographer, designer, and craftswoman — became one of the most groundbreaking landscape architects of all time by launching the Arts & Crafts movement within this discipline. The creative principles she established are still heavily utilized in contemporary landscape design to this day — and those principles are just as applicable to the South Florida garden as they are to the temperate climate of her native England.

In this 50 minute lecture, Victor will share his lifelong obsession with this brilliant woman and her revolutionary design work. Come explore the legacy Gertrude Jekyll left for gardeners like us today, and learn how you can create a cottage-style garden of your own, right here in tropical South Florida!

Relevant social media:

@JungleGymVictor on Instagram

JungleGymFL on Facebook.

Books for sale: Paperback copies of 100 Roses for the South Florida Garden will be available for sale. They are $30 each. Cash, personal check, credit card, PayPal, Venmo and CashApp are all accepted.

Greetings, all,

Welcome back to our Society!

The weather earlier this week was a bit brisk, but the rest of the week has been lovely for working outdoors. It‘s finally gotten cool enough to start salad greens, but delicate plants may need some sheltering.

Last month we enjoyed a Tasting Table full of Autumn Casseroles and other autumn specialties. Then our members got to watch Bernard, Ingrid, KC, Heather, Mary and Marci demonstrate various herbal crafts for our Gifts that Grow program. Each attendee received a booklet with recipes for each demonstrated craft, plus a few extra. There was a lot of discussion among the members about favorite flavors and applications. The evening ended with the traditional herb raffle, always a favorite.

The Society had its usual booth at the 2025 Fall Plant Sale. This event was headed up by Marci Green. Setup volunteers were Mary Wickensheimer, Ingrid Menz, Roland Gaudet, Bernard Pages, KC Foster and Dennis Hessing. Booth Sales volunteers were Marci Green, Mary Wickensheimer, Michelle Page, KC Foster, Pam Williams, Heather Emerson, Jeannie Fernsworth, Chris Norris, June Sansom and Bill Green. (Hope I didn‘t miss anyone.) Linda Alphage and her partner Marcus, Roland Gaudet and Bernard Pages came by to help the Sunday afternoon volunteers with breaking everything down. Dennis Hessing, our long-time friend and past President, picked up the tent to store it for us in his garage until next spring. We don‘t yet have a final figure on the net profits of the sale, but gross sales were over $1000.00. This will help cover the Society‘s expenses for the upcoming months and allow the society to make charitable grants to other organizations. A big thank you and a round of applause to all who helped with this event.

This month we welcome