Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
| Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden | |
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Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
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| Type | Private, open to the public for a fee |
| Location | Coral Gables, (Miami-Dade County), Florida, United States |
| Coordinates | 25°40′43″N 80°16′25″W / 25.678662°N 80.273742°WCoordinates: 25°40′43″N 80°16′25″W / 25.678662°N 80.273742°W |
| Area | 83 acres (34 ha) |
| Created | 1938 |
| Status | Open year round |
| Website | Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden |
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an 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.
Fairchild opened to the public in 1938.
With 45,000 members and over 1,200 volunteers, Fairchild plays many roles, including museum, laboratory, learning center and conservation research facility, but its main role is preserving biodiversity, which the garden’s scientists, staff and volunteers all contribute to on a daily basis. In 2012, Fairchild also became the home of the American Orchid Society.
The garden was established in 1936 by Robert H. Montgomery (1872–1953), an accountant, attorney, and businessman with a passion for plant-collecting. The garden opened to the public in 1938. It was named after his good friend David Fairchild (1869–1954), one of the great plant explorers. Dr. Fairchild's extensive travels brought more than 20,000 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.
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