The ONLY Tropical Garden on the Mainland, USA: Miami's Fairchil

One need not travel to Tahiti, Hawaii, Bora-Bora, Fiji, The Caribbean Islands, or other distant shores, to experience the exotic, lush beauty of tropical flowers and foliage!  One needs only to venture south, to Miami's Fairchild Tropical Gardens, one of the largest tropical plant enclaves in the world!  Mr. David Fairchild was truly a man of vision...he created an oasis of rare palms, foliage and tropical flowering plants in America's OWN tropic belt where Zone 10 and 11 plants can be seen living & truly thriving---naturally! Paul, "The Wise Gardener!" recommends that you take time, on your South Florida Holiday to revel in Fairchild's precious & unique beauty, garden friends!  Let's begin our cyber-tour and you will understand just why Fairchild Gardens MUST NOT BE MISSED! David Fairchild was one of the greatest plant explorers of all time. At the age of 22, he created the Section of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the United States Department of Agriculture, and for the next 37 years, he traveled the world in search of plants of potential use to the American people. His far-reaching travels brought into cultivation in the U.S. many important plants, including mangos, alfalfa, nectarines, dates, horseradish, bamboos and flowering cherries.  Dr. Fairchild retired to Miami in 1935, sharing his vast knowledge and experience in tropical plants with Col. Robert Montgomery, who founded the botanical garden and named it to honor his friend. Many plants still growing in the Garden were collected and planted by Dr. Fairchild, including a giant African baobab tree not far from the entrance. In 1940 Dr. Fairchild embarked on the Garden's first official collecting expedition, sailing from the Philippines to the Indonesian archipelago on a special oceangoing Chinese junk called the Cheng Ho. The voyage provided many of the Garden's early botanical specimens before the outbreak of World War II forced the explorers to return home.  History of Fairchild Tropical Garden Robert Montgomery was an accountant, attorney and successful businessman with a passion for plant collecting. With the guidance of David Fairchild, he pursued the dream of creating a botanical garden in Miami, the one place in the continental U.S. where tropical plants could grow outdoors year-round. Opened to the public in 1938, the Garden was established on an 83-acre site south of Miami purchased by Col. Montgomery and later deeded in large part to Miami-Dade County. The Garden was designed by renowned landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, member of the Frederik Law Olmsted partnership, and the leading designer of South Florida parks during the 1930s. 

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