He was a professional ballet dancer for more than 30 years, worked for a well-known trucking company and launched a Key West lighting store with partners. It’s not the typical career path for a man destined to oversee a renowned botanical garden, but it proved perfect for Misha McRAE.
Since 2013, McRAE has been executive director of the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden, a wilderness wonderland at the entrance to the island. He got involved with the garden after moving from Texas to Key West in 1996, joining its board of directors in 1997.
This year he’s spearheading 90th anniversary celebrations for the 15.2-acre site that’s acclaimed as the only frost-free tropical forest/botanical garden in the continental United States — the place that, through rare serendipity, has become the focus of McRAE’s considerable energy, passion and Key West life.
Not long ago, McRAE shared insights into his journey and his dedication to the garden with the Keys Weekly. (Learn more about the garden and its anniversary events at keywest.garden.)
Misha McRAE and his ‘feathered daughter,’ Soli, entertain young visitors at the garden. KEY WEST TROPICAL FOREST & BOTANICAL GARDEN/Contributed 
Misha McRAE, center, shares smiles with PBS Art Loft crew members Kristin Paterakis and Marina Ziehe following a 2017 film shoot at the garden. KEY WEST TROPICAL FOREST & BOTANICAL GARDEN/Contributed 
The Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden is a 15.2-acre wilderness wonderland at the entrance to Key West. KEY WEST TROPICAL FOREST & BOTANICAL GARDEN/Contributed
When you left Texas, why did you choose Key West as your home? I fell in love with Bahia Honda, our blue waters, our blue skies, palm trees and sand. I loved the reef. I loved everything about the ocean. Plus I realized that the community was so strong and supportive and vibrant, and I really wanted to be part of it. We take care of our own, and I really admired that from the very beginning.
What drew you to the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden? I grew up as an Army brat and we lived on base. Wherever we lived — Kentucky, Georgia and even Germany — behind the living quarters would be hundreds of acres of forest that I used to run around in with my two brothers. With my ingrained love of the outdoors and the forest, the transition to a tropical forest was preordained. Moving over here and helping this little garden sustain itself was really an easy transition.
How did you get from being a top-level ballet dancer to overseeing a botanical garden? Well, let me set it straight: I was a mediocre ballet dancer, but I was a great ballet partner. I had injured my Achilles tendon back in ’94, and the options were surgery or let it heal on its own. I went with “let it heal on its own,” but I turned out to be like a ship without a rudder — I didn’t have any balance on that side anymore. So I needed to make a transition, and my heart was here. It was as if this island was calling to me.
What does your work with the garden entail? I’ve done pretty much everything that’s ever needed to be done there. My major function now, as executive director, is to hold the ship together and raise money to keep the garden growing and going forward. I worked really hard over the last years to get the garden recognized both internationally and globally — for not only being a botanical garden, but for our conservation efforts.
What are the most notable things you want people know about the garden? We’re the only frost-free tropical forest in the continental United States and we have one of the last remaining hardwood hammocks. As a native garden, we’re fighting to protect and propagate the future of our native plant species and be stewards of the land and the plants, birds, butterflies, lizards, turtles and everything else that belongs here.
How do you envision the 90th anniversary celebration? It’s going to be big, organic, outdoors and show off the asset that is our historic tropical forest and botanical garden. It’s going to be a collaboration of all the people who’ve gotten us up to this milestone — a chance to get together, share stories and celebrate the efforts that have been put in by so many people over these 90 years.
When you’re not working, what’s your life all about? I have a beautiful 30-year-old Moluccan cockatoo named Soli who rules the roost. I’ve had her since she was 10 days old and she’s a little bundle of sunshine, so I call her my feathered daughter. I love fish tanks and I’ve got aquariums. And I have a wonderful Key West family of friends — Kate Miano, Diane May — they’ve been with me since the very beginning, through all the ups and downs of my life in Key West, and I call them my tribe.
How do you want people to react when they explore the garden? I want them to feel wonder. As we get older, we lose that sense of exploration and wonder. I want people to come in and reinvigorate that childhood inspiration that nature gives you — that sense of exploration and discovery. Even though I’ve been with this organization for a long time now, every day when I go out in the garden, there’s something new.
