Landscape redo earns Palm Beach couple the Smith award from the Preservation Foundation

Susan Salisbury
·5 min read
Each of the species around the pool will add its unique seasonal flowering and fruiting rhythm to the life of the landscape. There are thatch palms, silver buttonwoods, sea plums, Simpson’s stoppers, cocoplum, bay cedar, muhly grass, dune sunflower, beach creeper and sunshine mimosa. For those who want to see these plants close-up, they can all be seen in Pan’s Garden.

Matt and Tracy Smith decided to cancel all landscaping services at their oceanfront residence on North Ocean Way in Palm Beach during the COVID-19 pandemic because they felt it was best for no one to enter the property.

“We just let it go. I was raking leaves,” said Matt Smith, who is chairman of Shoes for Crews, which makes and sells non-skid footwear. “We noticed we didn’t see that many birds and bees.”

Soon the grass was dying, and their plants were looking ragged and overgrown. That’s when they decided to totally revamp their landscape using primarily native plants.

Their decision resulted in a dramatic re-do, with more shade, less maintenance, a wider variety of plants and a more environmentally friendly landscape with a natural look that’s reminiscent of Old Florida.

The Smiths earned the 2022 Lesly S. Smith Landscape Award

Tracy and Matt Smith had their oceanfront home re-landscaped using mosty native plants after being inspired by Kim Frisbie's Green Gardening columns.
Tracy and Matt Smith had their oceanfront home re-landscaped using mosty native plants after being inspired by Kim Frisbie's Green Gardening columns.

On May 3, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach awarded the Smiths the 2022 Lesly S. Smith Landscape Award for excellence in landscape design. The award, first given in 2011, is named in honor of former Mayor Smith, who is a founding trustee of the foundation.

Lesly Smith, no relation to Matt and Tracy Smith, presented the award at an event at the foundation's Peruvian Avenue office. It was attended by more than 100 people, including Smith’s daughter, Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore.

“I was up at the house on one of these windy days that we have had here this winter,” Lesly Smith said. “The palms were bending, but we were walking and looking in a beautiful, serene place. I am not a swimmer, but I thought, ‘I would like to stick around here.’ It’s really nice, peaceful and serene. It is a feeling of old Palm Beach in a way that we hope you will keep it.”

On the way to the Smithcouple’s expansive backyard, the path is lined with colorful bromeliads, Iris, Liriope and more. The native swamp twinflower, a softly mounding ground cover with lavender flowers, fills areas that were originally planted in turf, on both sides of the home’s entry stairs, with a section visible at the lower right-hand corner.
On the way to the Smithcouple’s expansive backyard, the path is lined with colorful bromeliads, Iris, Liriope and more. The native swamp twinflower, a softly mounding ground cover with lavender flowers, fills areas that were originally planted in turf, on both sides of the home’s entry stairs, with a section visible at the lower right-hand corner.

Preservation Foundation Chief Executive Officer and President Amanda Skier said, “The award recognizes a landscape that is both in keeping with the character and traditions of Palm Beach, yet also original and forward-thinking. Preserving the scenic quality of our town is central to our mission and this award seeks to acknowledge how landscapes impact our experience of the built environment.”

The challenges to the quality of life in Palm Beach are increasingly environmental, and the decisions made about landscapes play a vital role, she said.

Susan Lerner, the foundation’s director of horticulture, gave a presentation showing before-and-after photos of the property’s three main areas — the front, back and cabana garden. She highlighted the native trees and shrubs such as silver buttonwood, sea plum, braceletwood tree, Simpson stopper, sea oxeye daisy, beach creeper and many more.

“This is a garden to experience, live in, to wander and to discover,” Lerner said.

The shingle-style house and beach cabana on 1 acre were completed in 2012 and landscaped in the typical manicured style seen at many oceanfront estates with expanses of lawn and coconut palms.

The Smiths were inspired by Palm Beach Daily News columnist

The Smiths were inspired by Palm Beach Daily News columnist Kim Frisbie’s articles about native plants, the foundation’s all-native Pan’s Garden and its meandering paths, and talks with Town Council member Bobbie Lindsay about native plants.

They learned that non-native plants and trees require pesticides that harm the environment and enter the water system, and do not provide sufficient habitat and food for birds and butterflies.

The Smiths hired Lake Worth Beach-based Yates Burle Studio, owned and operated by Debra Yates and her son, Benjamin Burle, to design the new landscape. The 80-year-old seagrape trees and coconut palms were retained, but much of the grass was removed, including artificial turf on the beachfront, Yates and Burle said.

Yates Burle completed the first phase and Armstrong Landscape, led by Doug Allard, completed a second phase of additional plantings.

Burle said the Smith project is the only one his firm has done in Palm Beach, although they have completed others in the area. With more than 45 types of full-grown native trees and plants, including rare and threatened coastal native species, the property probably contains the highest concentration of native species on a private oceanfront property in Palm Beach.

“This is a good example to show you can create a native habitat in a sophisticated way,” Burle said.

Yates and Burle personally selected each tree, and all plants and trees in the project were locally sourced. The rarest trees incorporated are the Joewood tree, bay cedar, seven year apple, lignum vitae, cinnamon bark and white indigo berry. Rare palms featured include the buccaneer palm and Florida silver palm. Sea lavender and limber caper are rare plants now flourishing on the property.

Bay cedars, sea lavenders and braceletwoods form the front-line shrub masses. Filling in the understory are dune stabilizing sea oats, dune grasses, railroad vine, beach morning glory, coastal ragweed and dune sunflower. Sea grapes and silver buttonwoods and assorted palms line the western wall.
Bay cedars, sea lavenders and braceletwoods form the front-line shrub masses. Filling in the understory are dune stabilizing sea oats, dune grasses, railroad vine, beach morning glory, coastal ragweed and dune sunflower. Sea grapes and silver buttonwoods and assorted palms line the western wall.

Tracy Smith, who owns Gypsy Life Surf Shop in West Palm Beach, said the planting of sea oats and dune grasses on their beach has helped lessen the erosion. The whole family, including son Ben and daughter Margot, enjoy surfing.

“It looks beautiful,” Tracy Smith said. “You can still be beautiful and help the environment. Our house looks better.”

The Smiths, who have lived in Palm Beach for 27 years, hope that more residents decide to landscape with native plants.

“It was a big transformation. There is more privacy, and it’s more interesting,” Matt Smith said. “Depending on the time of day, you have more areas where you can read, and the sun is not always blasting down on you. My dogs haven’t complained.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach honors Matt, Tracy Smith for landscape redo