Fernando Wong is acknowledged to be one of the most influential landscape designers in the country. Trained in architecture and interior design in his native Panama, he turned to landscape design after moving to the U.S. in 2001. Along with his partner, Tim Johnson, he founded Fernando Wong Outdoor Living Design in 2005. The business grew quickly from a guest-bedroom office in Miami Beach into a global landscape architecture firm, with additional offices in Palm Beach and Southampton.
Nowadays, Wong is widely admired for landscapes of lushly layered foliage and flowers, as well as for elaborate garden follies, pools, pool pavilions, fountains, sculpture gardens and hardscapes. His guiding philosophy is that plants and landscape elements should highlight the architecture and its nuances rather than steal the show. He says, “My main principle is that the architecture is the picture, and the landscape is the frame.”
Wong credits much of his success to a “photographic memory,” explaining that he can see a plant, learn what it is and then remember it forever. This has created a kind of mental library to which he constantly refers. His go-to plants, however, are Cuban laurels and coconut palms. “The Cuban laurel is very easy to shape and creates perimeter walls for my gardens; coconut palms are a universal reminder that it is time to relax and decompress.”
Wong advocates for a less-is-more approach and describes his signature aesthetic as “simplicity and not a lot of color.” He adds, “Green is very soothing. And if I design something that is pared-down, people notice the surrounding environment.”
Here is a sampler of his stunning creations, at private homes stretching from Coral Gables, Miami and Palm Beach to the Bahamas.
The Long View
The dramatic allée ends with one of a pair of custom-built follies that flank the pool. A specially blended paint was created to complement the color of the trunks of the spreading live oaks. Green-tip cocoplums, green island ficus and dwarf elephant ear plants surround the seating area. Coral Gables.
Classic Volk
Aerial view of the Firestone Estate, a historic John Volk house and gardens, located on an unusually large three-acre lot on Lake Worth. The garden at the rear of the house features beds of blue salvia and purple duranta ‘sapphire showers’ trees. A coral-stone fountain is surrounded by beds of apostle irises, green-tip cocoplums, yaupon holly and jasmine minima. Palm Beach.
Evening Glamour
Coconut palms and the bougainvillea-covered loggia dominate this alluring night shot, with pool fountains lending additional glamour. Lyford Cay, Bahamas.
Hidden Garden
Meyer lemon trees in Italian terra-cotta pots stand in front of low cotoneaster hedges, podocarpus and green island ficus globes, rosemary plants and topal hollycones. Carpentaria and royal palms, along with banana and silver buttonwood trees rise above. Palm Beach.
Blissful Oasis
A magnificent banyan tree towers over the house, while a jasmine minima hedge, eugenia globes, blue salvia,
diamond zoysia sod, podocarpus cones, sea grape trees, pygmy date, medjool date and sabal palms all contribute to this serene enclave. Palm Beach.