On November 27th, 2012, during the Viva Florida 500 Southeast Region Partners’ Meeting, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, and Vizcaya Director Joel Hoffman joined FIU College of Architecture + The Arts Artist-in-Residence Xavier Cortada in planting and dedicating a wildflower garden to Juan Ponce de Leon at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens on Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida.
The wildflower planting is part of FLOR500, a participatory art | nature | history project the artist developed at FIU to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s landing on this peninsula and naming it Florida, from “flor,” the Spanish word for flower.
The eco-art effort is engaging 500 Florida artists to depict 500 of the native wildflowers that were around in 1513 and encourages schools, museums and libraries to plant wildflower gardens dedicated to one of 500 individuals who helped shape Florida history since 1513.
At Vizcaya, participants received wildflower seeds to plant wildflower gardens at home.
To learn more about the 500 flower species and the 500 featured Floridians, please visit FLOR500. Or, for more information, please contact FLOR500 Coordinator Christopher Rodriguez at flor500@fiu.edu or (305) 535-1459.
