| Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden | |
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Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden |
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| Type | Municipal |
| Location | Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States |
| Area | 83 acres (34 ha) |
| Created | 1938[1] |
| Operated by | Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department |
| Status | Open year round |
| Website | Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden |
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a 83-acre (34 ha) botanic garden, with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees and vines. It is located in metropolitan Miami, just south of Coral Gables, Florida, United States, surrounded at the south and west by Matheson Hammock Park.
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The garden was established in 1936 by Robert H. Montgomery (1872–1953), an accountant, attorney, and businessman with a passion for plant-collecting.[2] The garden opened to the public in 1938.[3] It was named after his good friend David Fairchild (1869–1954), one of the great plant explorers. Dr. Fairchild's extensive travels brought many important plants to the United States, including mangos, alfalfa, nectarines, dates, horseradish, bamboos and flowering cherries. David Fairchild retired to Miami in 1935, but many plants still growing in the Garden were collected and planted by Dr. Fairchild, including a giant African baobab tree. With the guidance of an influential circle of friends, Montgomery pursued the dream of creating a botanical garden in Miami. He purchased the site, named it after Dr. Fairchild, and later deeded it in large part to Miami-Dade County.[4]
The garden was designed by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, member of the Frederick Law Olmsted partnership,[5] and a leading landscape designer in South Florida during the 1930s. The first 15 years saw the construction of its primary buildings and landscape features, including the Montgomery Palmetum, Bailey Palm Glade, Allee and Overlook, Vine Pergola, Amphitheatre, Gate House, Montgomery Library and Museum, 14 lakes, stone terracing walls, irrigation systems, Moos Sunken Garden, and Nell Montgomery Garden House auditorium. Later buildings included the Davis House (1953), Hawkes Laboratory (1960), Robbins Plant Science Building (1967), Rare Plant House (1968), Corbin Education Building (1972), Jean duPont Shehan Visitor Center (2002) and various additions over the years. A groundbreaking ceremony occurred in 2010 for significant new complex of buildings including the Paul and Swanee DiMare Science Village, Dr. Jane Hsaio Tropical Research Laboaratories, Clinton Family Conservatory and Burns Building. The new science complex is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and was designed by Miami architect Max Strang.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a leading center of palm research, horticulture, and conservation. In 2002, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden launched The Fairchild Challenge - an environmental outreach program designed to promote environmental awareness, scholarship and stewardship in teenagers and pre-teens.
Since 2003 Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has sponsored a series of exhibits by noted artists, including Patricia Van Dalen, Dale Chihuly, Fernando Botero, Roy Lichtenstein, Franz West, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Michele Oka Doner, Mark Dion, Joshua Levin and Francois-Xavier Lalanne. Currently featured exhibits throughout the garden include the art of Yayoi Kusama, Cameron Gainer, Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, Mark di Suvero, Dale Chihuly, Daisy Youngblood, Freda Tschumy and Sicis. Throughout the year the garden hosts a series of seasonal weekend festivals ranging from chocolate, mango, orchid and palm festivals, and culminating in the fall Ramble. Other activities include concerts, clubs meetings, and classes.[6]