The thing that struck me about Fairchild Gardens was that these 83 acres of manicured wilderness are named after a Federal department of Agriculture scientist and not the person who had the idea for the gardens and who decided to fund them. It's not often a philanthropist declines to take the limelight. Colonel Robert Montgomery decided to create the gardens in 1938 and name them for his friend and famous "plant explorer" as David Fairchild was then known. Tons more info at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden's website if you need to know the nuts and bolts of the exhibitions and special events and all that. Lots of it too.
Our guide on this trip through the gardens was at pains to point out that Fairchild is a place devoted not just to growing pretty plants in a pleasant environment but it's primary mission, as a non profit, is to secure the world's largest collection of tropical flora and propagate it back in its original, endangered environment. Fairchild isn't strictly a garden it's science in action. And it is no less delightful for that.
Fairchild Gardens are located close by Biscayne Bay, south of the great Miami metropolis in a tony suburban little city called Coral Gables. Coral Gables is one of those places that eschews neon, has a stern police force, and wealthy inhabitants who spend the winters doddering from one over priced restaurant to another. These enclaves in middle class America are easily identified by their profusion of greenery. I have found in my travels that wealthy neighborhoods are always filled with mature trees and shrubbery. The gardens in their midst are just one more display of tropical extravagance. You want bougainvillea? They got bougainvillea, twenty feet tall if you like:
The gardens have a formal air to them with neatly manicured lawns crisscrossed by paved paths, all entirely wheelchair accessible. However, as long as visitors don't step in flowerbeds there are no restrictions on where one may walk. There is also an hour long tram ride through the gardens which makes one stop half way through and allows people to get on or off and split the ride with a time to walk around. The gardens are also littered with benches to allow contemplation, and I dare say picnics. One of these pictures is me, the other isn't:Our guide on this trip through the gardens was at pains to point out that Fairchild is a place devoted not just to growing pretty plants in a pleasant environment but it's primary mission, as a non profit, is to secure the world's largest collection of tropical flora and propagate it back in its original, endangered environment. Fairchild isn't strictly a garden it's science in action. And it is no less delightful for that.Fairchild Gardens are located close by Biscayne Bay, south of the great Miami metropolis in a tony suburban little city called Coral Gables. Coral Gables is one of those places that eschews neon, has a stern police force, and wealthy inhabitants who spend the winters doddering from one over priced restaurant to another. These enclaves in middle class America are easily identified by their profusion of greenery. I have found in my travels that wealthy neighborhoods are always filled with mature trees and shrubbery. The gardens in their midst are just one more display of tropical extravagance. You want bougainvillea? They got bougainvillea, twenty feet tall if you like:
The darker of the two of us is a statue of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas a former South Dade county resident famous for her unreadable (in my opinion) defense of the Everglades titled River of Grass. She died a decade ago at 108 and in her lifetime she spoke out for Florida's ravaged open spaces at a time when exploitation was the theme for natural resources. A brave woman memorialised here, appropriately enough. One doesn't have to be old to appreciate Fairchild:
There are plants from Haiti being reintroduced to that ravaged country, and we saw projects supporting Ecuadorian flora as well. It's all part of the educational side of the organization. They give kids classes here as well, and they simply offer beauty on tap to all visitors:
In the midst of the gardens there are...
...hothouse collections displaying orchids...
...and splendid tropical fruits, such as the famously foul durian of Malaysia, a fruit said to smell as foul as it tastes sweet. My sorrow was there were none ripe and visible on the tree, so I shall to return to see this thing that has intrigued me since first I heard of it. The Jack Fruit was though, a goiter that grows up to 150 pounds, so heavy it can only sprout from the trunk of the tree:
We saw huge baobab trees with their distinctive flowers and fruit:
We wandered through the tropical rain forest which is periodically ravaged by South Florida hurricanes and thus unable to grow a proper rain forest canopy such as one might see in Brazil and points south. Places that also have twice as much rainfall as Miami which allows the rain forest to grow more lushly and impenetrably. This is not a bad sampling in my opinion, even if it is a mere shadow of a "real" rain forest:
But fear not, even in the midst of all this lush tropicalness civilization is never too far away, a drink a loo a gardener with his electric runabout, and even a reminder of the world of commerce outside the fences is there:
The gardens are split into uplands and lowlands. The uplands are the better developed area lying on a ridge of limestone rock that runs across South Florida (the community of Cutler Ridge lies a couple of dozen feet above sea level as a reminder). The lowlands are still being developed around a series of mangrove marshes and reclaimed lagoons. There is even a Florida Keys area which we will seek out more in depth next time. Fairchild offers plants for sale for amateurs and we are thinking about trying to create a more native, wildlife friendly area around our house which is surrounded by trees but not necessarily the ones we have discovered we might like. In the lowlands too the vistas are splendid:
I found the natural beauty entrancing but I also like the idea that Fairchild gardens is helping us export plants that are actually beneficial to their recipients, repopulating areas of the world not as wealthy (at the moment) as we are and not as organized as we have been. I'd like to think the export of trees might in some measure balance out the export of high explosives:
We'd have Fairchild Gardens to thank for that.
In the midst of the gardens there are......hothouse collections displaying orchids......and splendid tropical fruits, such as the famously foul durian of Malaysia, a fruit said to smell as foul as it tastes sweet. My sorrow was there were none ripe and visible on the tree, so I shall to return to see this thing that has intrigued me since first I heard of it. The Jack Fruit was though, a goiter that grows up to 150 pounds, so heavy it can only sprout from the trunk of the tree:We saw huge baobab trees with their distinctive flowers and fruit: We wandered through the tropical rain forest which is periodically ravaged by South Florida hurricanes and thus unable to grow a proper rain forest canopy such as one might see in Brazil and points south. Places that also have twice as much rainfall as Miami which allows the rain forest to grow more lushly and impenetrably. This is not a bad sampling in my opinion, even if it is a mere shadow of a "real" rain forest: But fear not, even in the midst of all this lush tropicalness civilization is never too far away, a drink a loo a gardener with his electric runabout, and even a reminder of the world of commerce outside the fences is there:The gardens are split into uplands and lowlands. The uplands are the better developed area lying on a ridge of limestone rock that runs across South Florida (the community of Cutler Ridge lies a couple of dozen feet above sea level as a reminder). The lowlands are still being developed around a series of mangrove marshes and reclaimed lagoons. There is even a Florida Keys area which we will seek out more in depth next time. Fairchild offers plants for sale for amateurs and we are thinking about trying to create a more native, wildlife friendly area around our house which is surrounded by trees but not necessarily the ones we have discovered we might like. In the lowlands too the vistas are splendid:I found the natural beauty entrancing but I also like the idea that Fairchild gardens is helping us export plants that are actually beneficial to their recipients, repopulating areas of the world not as wealthy (at the moment) as we are and not as organized as we have been. I'd like to think the export of trees might in some measure balance out the export of high explosives:We'd have Fairchild Gardens to thank for that.
5 comments:
IMHO there's too much bougainvillea in the world today. It's the plant of choice round here as well.
I echo the comments on the previous post. I always seem to be checking your blog minutes after you posted. Must be the time difference.
I could never grow bougainviles to save my life in California, it always died on me. I still like it though, but I like impressionism and music with melody too so I am a cultural lightweight!
I set my new essays to post at one minute past midnight Eastern Time automatically unless there are technical problems), though frequently I'm awake at midnight thanks to my job.
Wish you'd have checked in sooner as Turkish blogs in English with pictures help the slow night hours to pass.
Strictly speaking, I suppose, it's an English blog in Turkey, as opposed to Turkish in English.
I was offered a bougainvillea at the plant place when I went to buy, but said no. I got jasmine instead. It flowered nicely for a fortnight then stopped.
If I'd got bougainvillea I could have collected enough petals to decorate the bedroom for SLT when she next turns up.
Your photos are always good. And your posts give some idea of what it must be like to live in Key West.
Someone else went visiting a garden, interesting :) I love the pics. Now I have to add another place to visit on my long list. "One picture is me, the other is not" - Priceless!
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