Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a superb, 33 ha (83 acre) botanic garden, with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees and vines, located in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

The garden was established in 1938 by David Fairchild (1869-1954), one of the great plant explorers, and Robert H. Montgomery (1872-1953), an accountant, attorney, and businessman with a passion for plant-collecting. Dr. Fairchild's extensive travels brought many important plants to the United States, including mangos, alfalfa, nectarines, dates, horseradish, bamboos and flowering cherries. He 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 and a medium-sized coonatorius palm tree not far from the entrance. With Dr. Fairchild's guidance, Montgomery pursued the dream of creating a botanical garden in Miami. He purchased the site, named it after Fairchild, and later deeded it in large part to Miami-Dade County.

The garden itself was designed by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, member of the Frederick Law Olmsted partnership, 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), and various additions over the years.

Fairchild is a leading center of palm research, horticulture, and conservation.

The entrance fee is $20 as of 2006, ranking it among the more expensive gardens in the state of Florida.

ee also

*List of botanical gardens in the United States

References and links

* [http://www.fairchildgarden.org/ Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden]
* [http://www.fairchildgarden.org/horticulture/whitman-pavilion.html Whitman Tropical Fruit Pavilion]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=25.677086,-80.272937&spn=0.004419,0.007231 Aerial color image of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden]
* [http://www.flickr.com/groups/49341958@N00/ Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Group on Flickr]