North End estate wins Smith Landscape Award

Inspired by trips to Morocco and Turkey, world travelers Katharine Kathy and William P. Billy Rayner created exotically themed gardens at their North End estate and their efforts were honored Thursday by the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.

Their gardens won the fourth annual Lesly S. Smith Landscape Award, presented before a private dinner for the Preservation Club at foundation headquarters on Peruvian Avenue.

The Rayners joined landscaper Denis Lamarsh, who helped them with the design, in accepting the award.

Foundation Executive Director Alexander C. Ives presented a tour of the gardens via PowerPoint before the ceremony.

The Rayners home stands on a double lot between Emerald and Coral lanes. One of the gardens is Marrakesh-inspired, filled with lush plants and coconut palms sheltering a guesthouse, tented entertainment pavilion and swimming pool.

The other landscaped area takes a more refined form, inspired by symmetrical Persian gardens. The focal point is a guest pavilion with Turkish architecture facing another pool and a lawn.

Also assisting the Rayners in the multi-year project was gardener Michael Peasley.

Ives said Friday that the garden shows how elements borrowed from other cultures can be successfully incorporated into Palm Beach gardens. We can bring things back home with us to inform the design decisions we make here, he said.

The Rayners are members of the foundation.

Kathy Rayner is the daughter of Anne Cox Chambers of Cox Enterprises, the parent company of the Palm Beach Daily News.

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North End estate wins Smith Landscape Award