Ngoc Minh Ngo Takes Portraits of Paradise

How do you celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rebirth of a treasured landmark? That was the question members of the commemorative book committee pondered when planning a publication that would tell the story of McKee Botanical Garden, founded as McKee Jungle Gardens by Arthur McKee and Waldo Sexton in 1932, and a community that brought it back to life.

It was initially thought the publication would be produced in-house, with a local photographer providing images. Then Marion de Vogel, McKee’s great-granddaughter and garden champion extraordinaire, had a chance encounter with Ngoc Minh Ngo, known for her breathtaking photographs of gardens.

Would she consider adding McKee to her busy schedule? She would and she did. It would be her first jungle garden and first garden in Florida.

On a steamy August afternoon, with a tropical disturbance heading toward Florida’s east coast, Ngoc met de Vogel at the garden and went straight to work.

As de Vogel notes, “Her process is exacting and patient. One shot, a slight adjustment of the camera, another shot, more adjustments, then the shot. Ultimately, Ngo photographed the garden three times over the course of two years. She is tireless and the results are breathtaking. Ethereal. Spiritual. Poetic. She is a true master of her craft.”

So who is this woman whose images garner such praise?

For starters, she was born in Vietnam, one of eight children. Her father was a colonel in the South Vietnamese Army. Shortly before the end of the Vietnam war, the family fled to California. There, Ngoc enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in economics, never thinking about pursuing a creative career.

Ngoc’s plans changed when she moved to New York. While working on a friend’s independent film, she discovered a passion for photography. It was an “Aha!” moment, and she never looked back.

Ngoc’s images have been published in Martha Stewart Living, Vogue, The World of Interiors, T Magazine, Architectural Digest, Cabana, and House & Garden UK. She has also authored five books. Now, The Jungle Garden: Preserving a Tropical Landscape has been added to her list of accomplishments.

Published by Rizzoli, The Jungle Garden is written by local author Heather O’Shea, with a foreword by British author and screenwriter Julian Fellowes and principal photography by Ngoc Minh Ngo. The 240-page book, with 200-plus photos, is a celebration of McKee Botanical Garden’s extraordinary legacy.

Throughout, Ngoc’s images transport you into the heart of the garden, making you feel as though you can reach out and touch a leaf, smell a flower, hear the water. As she herself has said, “I am always looking for the magic in flowers—and it’s always there. The world can be very hard and harsh; but it can also be very beautiful.”

To that Wolberg adds, “Ngoc Minh Ngo brought an exceptional artistic eye and sensitivity to this project, elevating each image beyond documentation into storytelling. Her photographs illuminate the richness, texture, and layered beauty of our jungle landscape in ways that feel both intimate and timeless.”

O’Shea couldn’t agree more: “I had a set of prints from Ngoc’s first photo shoot with me the whole time I was writing, so I knew she would depict the garden beautifully; her photos captured every mood of the garden, and often in surprising ways.”

De Vogel sums it up when she says, “Ngoc Minh Ngo’s soulful photographs reveal the garden’s heart—its layers of history, light, and life—while Heather O’Shea’s deeply researched, beautifully rendered prose offers far more than a chronicle of evolution.

“Together, their work becomes a lasting tribute: to bold imagination, to steadfast community stewardship, and to the rare and beautiful harmony of plants, people, and place. Above all, it stands as a love letter to those who ensured that McKee would have a second life—one just as wild, whimsical, and wondrous as the first.”