Rominiecki’s vision for Selby Gardens is becoming reality

Jennifer Rominiecki addresses the crowd at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for Marie Selby Botanical Gardens opening phase one of its master plan. SELBY GARDENS / RYAN GAMMA PHOTOGRAPHY / COURTESY PHOTOS

Ten years ago, Jennifer Rominiecki never dreamed she’d be living in Florida. She was working as vice president for institutional advancement at the New York Botanic Gardens when she was contacted by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota.

“I started out in visual art at the Guggenheim Museum, moved on to performing art at the Metropolitan Opera, and ended up in living art at the New York Botanical Garden,” said Rominiecki, now Selby’s president and CEO since February 2015.

“I had been at the New York Botanical Garden for 15 years and I really wasn’t looking to relocate but was recruited for this opportunity with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I had heard of Selby Gardens because it really is world renowned, but I had never been there, and I’d also never been to the west coast of Florida before.”

She decided to take the interview and check it out.

“Right when I set foot on the grounds, I knew immediately the tremendous potential and the unique quality of this site.”

ROMINIECKI

Rominiecki’s life is busy. Besides running Selby Gardens and Historic Spanish Point, she is chair of Visit Florida and is raising two young men.

“The way I manage it all is because I have a phenomenal partner in life — my husband, Rob. He’s the secret sauce of the formula.”

He works as a consultant and is full time at home with their sons.

And when she needs to get away for a bit, she and her family head to the beach.

“It’s my happy place,” she said.

It’s part of the total package that helped convince her to move here.

“I was so excited about it because, as a child, I always spent my summers on the Jersey shore, or I visited the Hamptons. I love the beach and there are no more magnificent beaches than we have here in Sarasota.”

Rominiecki birthed her vision for Selby Gardens right from the start.

“I had known when I was hired that a master plan was necessary because — although we had the phenomenal plant collections, we had the talent and we had the location right on the bayfront — the infrastructure was in terrible condition. When I first arrived, the first order of business was making a strategic plan. Even though we’re a private organization, we held numerous community information meetings to get input and we implemented numerous changes based on the input we received.”

Paths at Selby Gardens. SELBY GARDENS / COURTESY PHOTO

On the first go-round in the approval process, Rominiecki said they went through all of the testimony they heard and addressed concerns. On the second go-round, compromises were made, and Selby received the OK needed to move forward.

“I’m thrilled to be able to say that our vision was held intact and everything we needed to accomplish remained.”

Probably the biggest change made was building the restaurant at garden level. It had originally been planned for the garage rooftop.

Rominiecki said Marie Selby’s remaining family members played an active role in planning the changes.

“They played a very active role in supporting the vision. Several were at the ribbon cutting and they wholeheartedly supported this effort.”

More than 98% of the funding for phase one came from private donors.

“I think we have an extremely generous community. What was important from the beginning was articulating the need and why it was so critical to get this project done. I think that really resonat- ed with our very generous community. That speaks to the very generous people in our community who wanted to make an impact and give a gift to the city of Sarasota and beyond, because this project truly is a gift.”

In phase two and three, the gardens will tackle constructing glasshouses for the living collections.

“We need a new glasshouse facility as well as building an adjacent indoor-outdoor learning pavilion for all of our education programs for children and adults,” Rominiecki said.

The team also plans to restore the landmark Payne Mansion, which serves as the Museum of Botany & the Arts, unify all walking paths throughout the campus, bolster sea walls surrounding the property and renovate the docks.

“There are a few things that are already very special about Selby Gardens. We are the only botanical garden in the world to focus on the study of epiphytes (air plants) and we have the world’s best scientifically documented collection of orchids and bromeliads — true since Selby Gardens was founded.

“What’s new is that we will be literally an international model for sustainability, becoming the first net-positive energy botanical garden complex in the world, generating more energy than we consume. That’s an amazing thing.”

Rominiecki believes that Marie Selby would be pleased about how her garden grows.

“I think she would be thrilled with it, and her remaining family members feel that way as well,” Rominiecki said. “She wanted her land to be preserved as a botanical garden, which was at the core of this master plan.

“Marie Selby was a forward-thinking woman who would have embraced meeting the needs of the organization with the other operating infrastructure that was needed.”

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