WINONA GARDEN
Set within 500 acres of open countryside in DeLeon Springs, Winona Garden marks the first chapter of a lakeside retreat designed for both scale and ease.
The newly constructed 13,000-square-foot residence and separate lake house sit lightly within an expansive pastoral setting - a home intended as much for barefoot afternoons as for celebratory gatherings.
Phase I focused on shaping the arrival and side grounds, establishing structure and cohesion before the introduction of future amenities, including a two-level pool, lazy river, and pickleball court. The landscape evolved alongside active construction, requiring close collaboration with the builder, interior designer, and homeowners to ensure the exterior felt as considered as the architecture itself.
Residential
DeLeon Springs, FL
Process:
New Construction
Partners:
Sutherlin Lawn and Landscape
Chinelli Design Build
Urban Forestry Works
The homeowners desired a landscape that felt mature from the outset: polished, but never overly formal. Across such a large property, repetition and restraint became essential tools. Flagstone threads through the entry sequence and gathering spaces, creating material continuity and grounding the composition.
An antique limestone water basin anchors the arrival, offering a quiet, reflective counterpoint to the scale of the home. To immediately bring proportion and presence to the architecture, significant specimen trees were installed, including a 40-foot single-trunk live oak and a 35-foot multi-trunk ranch live oak. A sculptural native simpson’s stopper tree adds evergreen structure with seasonal softness; airy enough to preserve light, yet strong enough to hold space.
Palms were placed with intention to soften the architectural lines, bring instant scale to the home and introduce a relaxed coastal elegance. Beneath the porte cochère, flowering crape myrtles lend seasonal movement, while a trio of character sabal palms frame the arched openings of the outdoor living porch, transforming the view into a composed yet welcoming landscape vignette.
By request, a raised-bed potager garden, enclosed by a custom stone wall and anchored by citrus at each corner, introduces a note of charm and personal expression - a space both productive and quietly whimsical within the broader estate.
Though only the first phase of development, Winona Garden establishes a landscape designed to grow alongside the family - refined, relaxed, and grounded in a sense of place.
