Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a Coral Gables Favorite

The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an attraction located in Coral Gables, Florida, a suburb southwest of Miami. It is the mission of this garden to "save tropical plant diversity by exploring, explaining and conserving the world of tropical plants.'' The garden staff strives to educate visitors as to the bounty of the tropical world and hopes to promote a love for plants and gardening in general.

The gardens are named for Dr. David Fairchild, a plant explorer who traveled the world around the turn of the twentieth century to find plants that would be of use to the American public. He was responsible for bringing mangos, nectarines, dates, horseradish, and a variety of other plants and trees to the U.S. He retired in Miami in 1935 and shared his vast knowledge with his friend Colonel Robert H. Montgomery, who founded the gardens and named them after Fairchild.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden opened in 1938 on 83 acres just south of Miami. The landscape architect for the project was William Lyman Phillips, a partner of Frederick Olmsted Law, who designed New York's Central Park and many other notable green areas.

All the plants, palms, fruit trees, vines, and flowering trees are arranged taxonomically throughout the botanic garden. That means they are organized by classification according to their presumed natural relationships. Many of the plants have been collected from the wilds while others, especially endangered species, have been cultivated.

The gardens hold a number of special events that highlight specific portions of their collection. These include the International Mango Festival, which takes place each July. There is also a 2-acre rainforest, the Richard H. Simons Rainforest, which was opened in 2000 and features rainforest plants from throughout the world but especially from the American Tropics. It features wide pathways for easy access, there are labels on the plants so that visitors can understand what they're viewing, and a stream with cascades and waterfalls meanders through the forest.

In addition, the William F. Whitman Tropical Fruit Pavilion welcomes visitors to experience some of the world's most exotic fruit varieties. A trip to this pavilion can sometimes be a hands-on experience, with a chance to touch and sometimes taste these unusual varieties.

Inside the 16,000-square-foot Windows to the Tropics conservatory, visitors view 1,900 species of plants from the humid tropics. Exhibits are arranged by themes and here visitors can enjoy some very rare orchids, bromeliads, and vines. For those who enjoy palm trees, the Montgomery Palmetum is an award-winning display and research collection of palm trees from around the world.

The Lisa D. Anness Butterfly Garden is home to about 30 species of the winged creatures, and the 8-acre Arboretum displays more than 700 varieties of tropical flowering trees, which are truly a magnificent site when in bloom. Other exhibits profile cactus, plants of the Florida Keys coastal habitat, and the spiny forests of Madagascar.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden offers non-credit and credit programs for adults interested in botany and horticulture, daily and summer camp programs for kids, and opportunities for volunteering.

The onsite Center for Tropical Plant Conservation works to avoid the extinction of certain tropical plant species and employs a number of plant specialists that work both at the gardens and in the field.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1981, Fairchild is open every day except Christmas. Admission includes access to all displays and exhibits and a narrated tram ride around the grounds.