South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Secret Garden opens walkway with mayor’s donations
After overcoming obstacles caused by Tropical Storm Eta back in November, the Secret Garden at Century Village finally was able to honor Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis at its dedication ceremony on Jan. 5.
Receiving four pallets of recycled bricks and a truckload of gravel as donations, Lisa Sigelbaum and the Secret Garden surprised Ortis at the event by dedicating a new walkway in his name. The donations made by the mayor made the construction of the walkway possible for the ½ -acre botanical garden.
Led by volunteer Sigelbaum, the garden has undergone many renovations since its inception over 15 years ago, prevailing over hurdles such as hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Irma. The garden is home to an array of tropical plants, fruit trees, a couple of hundred orchids, dozens of species of butterflies and also an herb garden.
Sigelbaum recently talked about the garden’s growth and challenges.
How gratifying was it to honor the mayor at the dedication ceremony after overcoming numerous obstacles?
We wanted to do this earlier last year but with COVID hitting everything stopped. We were finally able to set the time with the mayor for him to come out and to do this. Twice we had issues with first the rain and then the water.
But, it’s very satisfying to go out now and see the garden put back together, looking a little different than it was, but put back together. The reopening with the mayor went extremely well. We couldn’t do this alone. We may have the desire and the time but we can’t do this without people’s support. We were so intent on thanking the mayor for what he did because it cost us almost $5,000 to put this walkway in. Without him donating those four pallets of bricks and all that gravel to level the ground around the walkway, it would have cost us a lot more.”
When the garden was hit by Tropical Storm
Eta, what was some of the damage it received?
We started this garden in 2005. Every few years, something happens and we have to make changes. My former garden partner used to call it ‘moving the furniture.’ Essentially, it becomes better, better and better. We had 20 inches of rain here, and in the back swale where it separates us from the golf course, we had 6 feet of water in that swale. That’s where our vegetable garden was. That’s where a lot of night-blooming jasmines were, a lot of our plants that we had for the moths, not just the butterflies. We lost all of that. We had a lot of erosion on the hill, and this is one of the only places that you can find hills in South Florida. Granted they’re manmade, just like on the golf course. We had to replace that, and that was about eight yards of sand.
How were you able to raise the money to make the repairs and renovations in the garden?
It’s been quite a process, it’s been several thousand dollars, which since we can’t fundraise because of COVID-19, we can’t have our garage sales, flea markets, open houses or any the things where crowds can gather. It’s been a little bit difficult.
What are some of the other ways COVID-19 has impacted the garden?
We lost a few of our volunteers. They’re not coming out until they get the vaccine and they are reasonably sure they’re going to be safe. On the good side with COVID-19, we had a lot more people coming to the garden, a lot more people discovering it. We had a few people that made donations of $100 here, $50 here, which has helped. Also, grandparents are bringing their grandkids here, which has enabled us to teach the kids. We can teach children about caterpillars, chrysalis, butterflies and what’s the difference between a milkweed and a dollarweed.
Visit thesecretgardenatcenturyvillage.com.