Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
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Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a 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 Robert H. Montgomery (1872-1953), an accountant, attorney, and businessman with a passion for plant-collecting. It was named for 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. 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. With the guidance of a small but influential circle of friends, 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[1].
The garden itself was designed by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips, member of the Frederick Law Olmsted partnership[2], 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.
Fairchild is a leading center of palm research, horticulture, and conservation. In 2002, Fairchild launched The Fairchild Challenge - an environmental outreach program designed to promote environmental awareness, scholarship and stewardship in teenagers and pre-teens.
The adult entrance fee is $20 as of 2009, with discounts for children and seniors. Guided tram rides are available free.
[edit] References
- ^ Zuckerman, Bertram. The Dream Lives On: A History of the Fairchild Tropical Garden, 1938-1988. Miami, FL:Fairchild Tropical Garden, 1988. Pp. 15-33.
- ^ Jackson, Faith Reyher. Pioneer of Tropical Landscape Architecture; William Lyman Phillips in Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1997. p. 16.
