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Established in 1938, the Garden is among Florida's most popular visitor attractions and offers a variety of community programs in environmental education, conservation and horticulture. Fairchild Tropical Garden combines the beauty of its horticultural display with its role as a living laboratory and center of learning and discovery.
A world leader in tropical plant research, Fairchild plays an
important
part in preserving the biodiversity of the tropical environment,
working
with other botanical gardens and research institutions around the world.
Rare Plant Auction at Fairchild Aimed at Cycad Conservation
Coral Gables, FL, October 12, 2006—Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is excited to announce one of its most anticipated events, The Rare Event, on Sunday, October 29 from 5:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. in the Garden House. Deemed as a connoisseur’s auction of rare and uncommon plants and trees—most of which are propagated here at Fairchild and generally unavailable to the public—this event is a one-of-a-kind opportunity. Some of the highlighted plants for sale include the Alocasia (Borneo Giant), Portlandia grandiflora (Bell flower) and Itaya amicorum.
Additionally, the Rare Event will include a silent auction with exciting items including a five night stay at the Selva Verda Lodge in Costa Rica, Antique Botanical prints form the “Herbier Artificiel” by Pierre Buchoz (1783) and signed Andres Serrano cycad photos.
All proceeds for this year’s Rare Event will focus on the conservation of cycads. The cycads are an ancient group of plants, dating back to at least 280 million years ago. They survive in the sub-tropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the New World and Australia. Fairchild cultivates cycads in its own collection and had one of the world’s largest and genetically diverse collections. Yet this ancient lineage may be lost in the twenty first century as a result of habitat destruction and illegal harvesting. The cycads are recognized as one of the world’s most threatened plant groups with over half of the world’s species currently threatened with extinction. Indeed some species only survive in botanic gardens, having been exterminated in the wild.
The 2006 Rare Event will raise funds to support the following projects:
· Funding a Ph.D. studentship for a South African student at the South African National Biodiversity Institute: to be based at the laboratory of Dr. John Donaldson, chair of the Cycad Specialist Group and a Fairchild Research Associate, to undertake conservation biology on the conservation of rare African cycads. This studentship is part of Fairchild’s commitment to growing the next generation of African conservationists.
· Supporting the Fairchild Cycad DNA library: The Fairchild Cycad DNA Library is a resource for researchers and conservationists around the world and now serving as a resource for botanic gardens in the U.S. by holding DNA vouchers that can be forensically matched with stolen plants.
· Assisting in the development of Cycad conservation projects with Jardin Botanico Fco. J. Clavijero in Xalapa, Mexico. This institution holds the National Cycad Collection for Mexico and has been a strong research partner with Fairchild for over 20 years.
· Delivering training courses in cycad conservation in conjunction with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Cycad Specialist Group of the IUCN-SSC, with an emphasis on courses in South Africa and Mozambique.
· Continuing our propagation work with Microcycas, one of the world’s most endangered cycads.
· Working with the Summit Botanical Garden in Panama to establish a cycad conservation facility.
The Rare
Event 2006 plant
catalog will be available for viewing starting October 15 at www.fairchildgarden.org. A
limited
amount of tickets are available at $250 per person. For more
information on the
Rare Event and to purchase tickets, please contact Maggie Rossi at
305-667-1651, ext. 3358
About Fairchild’s Cycad Conservation Projects
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has one of the world’s largest collections of cycads and has identified cycad conservation as an institutional priority. We work in partnership with Florida International University and the Chapman Field facility of the USDA. As with all Fairchild projects, this work will be achieved through collaboration and with the recognition that endangered plants are best conserved by conservation teams in the country of origin. Fairchild has a long history of cycad conservation and research. A Fairchild researcher Dr. Knut Norstog made some of the first observations on cycad pollination. Fairchild is one of the few institutions to have propagated the highly endangered Microcycas from Cuba, and we run one of the world’s largest DNA facilities for endangered cycads. Current projects include fieldwork in Kenya to monitor wild populations of wild cycads, an investigation into the wild cycads of Zanzibar and conservation genetic studies of threatened cycads of the Caribbean and North and Central America.
Windows to the Tropics is a 16,428 square foot conservatory with extensive displays of some 1,730 species of plants from the humid tropics. In its two levels of beautiful indoor gardens are rare palms and cycads, ferns, orchids, aroids, bromeliads, fruit trees and unusual vines. Exhibits are based on themes such as plant coloration, plant-animal interactions, plant reproduction and diversity of form and function.
The Bailey Palm Glade features a display of unusual palms and provides a long, narrow view across the Garden's landscape, eastward toward mangrove preserves and Biscayne Bay. The Overlook, an octagonal landscape "room", offers a wide, panoramic view of the Garden's lowland areas and lakes, providing a striking architectural counterpart to the narrow view of the Bailey Palm Glade.
The Richard H. Simons Rainforest blends native Florida species with true rainforest species collected by Fairchild plant scientists from tropical forests in Latin America and other locations. With aerial irrigation systems to enhance rainfall and humidity, this two-acre exhibit offers visitors the opportunity to experience the plants and environment of the world's dwindling rain forest ecosystems.
The Gate House Museum of plant exploration is a restored historic landmark, built in 1939. Its exhibit, In Search of Green Treasure, includes plant artifacts, photographs, text panels and audio recordings about why plants are collected, how they are used, what scientists experience in the field and why their work is significant. The exhibit shows the real-life experiences of men and women who travel the globe to seek unknown plants and information about them.
Visitors now enter the Garden through the Jean duPont Shehan
Visitor
Center which opened in October 2002. It houses the Garden Shop on the
first
floor and the Fairchild Ballroom on the second floor.
The Lynn Fort Lummus Endangered Species Garden, adjacent to the Gate House Museum, displays a selection of endangered plants of Florida and Puerto Rico from the Garden's Center for Plant Conservation collection. This exhibit gives visitors an understanding of the inter-relationships of endangered plants and environments and the importance of conserving the fragile South Florida ecosystem.
The Keys Coastal Habitat, developed in partnership with the
Tropical
Audubon Society, is a three-acre garden featuring a densely-planted
collection
of plants native to South Florida, especially those of the Florida
Keys.
It has been designed to attract migratory birds and other wildlife,
giving
an overview of the local environment and the interactions of plants and
animals.
Rare and endangered species collections include about 4,000 plants of about 100 endangered, threatened or rare species from South Florida and the Puerto Rican archipelago, 15 of which are federally listed as endangered. The collection serves as an important safeguard against extinction and a resource for research, education and natural areas management. The Garden is an affiliate of the Center for Plant Conservation, a national organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation of endangered U.S. species. In addition to conserving ex situ collections of endangered plants, the Garden is active in propagating those plants, reintroducing seedlings into the wild and monitoring their long-term success.
Fairchild tropical fruit trees include an internationally significant collection with more than 450 cultivars of superior tropical fruits such as canistel, jackfruit, mango, mamey sapote and lychee. Other special plant collections include a wide diversity of plants from tropical and subtropical climates, including tropical flowering trees, bamboos, tropical vines, arid plants, hibiscus, Bahamian plants and mangroves.
The Fairchild herbarium is the largest in
the
region with more than 165,000 preserved plant specimens. Strengths of
the
collection include the floras of Florida, the Bahamas and Caribbean
basin;
cultivated plants of tropical Florida, and worldwide palms and cycads.
The associated taxonomic and ecological reprint collection is one of
the
largest compilations of botanical literature in the southeastern U.S.;
related collections include more than 1,000 original technical
botanical
illustrations. The Botanical Resource Center, and Virtual
Herbarium
launched in January 1999, make the herbarium specimens and the Garden's
living collection accessible via the World Wide Web.
Exhibits & Special Events
http://www.fairchildgarden.org/
Interesting Butterfly Facts
Over 20,000 butterfly species are found
worldwide
Florida’s
state butterfly is the Zebra Longwing
The
largest butterfly in New Guinea, the Queen Alexandra,
has a wingspan of nearly a foot
The
smallest include some South Florida Butterflies, such as the Eastern
Pygmy Blue, with a wingspan approaching half an inch
Butterflies
are insects in the order of Lepidoptera
After
emerging from their chrysalis, butterflies live anywhere from a few
days to around nine months, as does the long-lived Monarch
Butterflies
smell food and mates with their antennae, taste with their feet, and
sip by uncoiling their long drinking tubes called proboscis
Butterflies
need sun to warm them in order fly—so they sometimes sun bathe with
wings wide open
Many
species of butterfly migrate seasonally, as do birds, with the best
known North American migrant, the Monarch
Butterflies
have predators—especially birds, lizards, spiders—and will try to
confuse or discourage their enemies by releasing bad odors or flashing
bright, startling colors at predators to distract them, allowing them
to escape
Butterfly Day
will run from 9:30am to 4:30pm, Sunday, July 25, 2004.
Admission is $10 adults, $9 senior citizens, $5 children (3-12 years),
free for Fairchild members and children under 3.
Fairchild is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables (Miami), Florida 33156.
For more information, please call 305-667-1651 or visit www.fairchildgarden.org.
Please call 305/667-1651
to confirm dates, times and admission charges.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS to Fairchild Tropical Garden, 10901Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables, a suburb of Miami:
From Miami International Airport (MIA), As you leave the airport take LeJeune Rd. (SW 42nd Ave.) SOUTH. You will drive through the Coral Gables business district, and cross US 1 (S. Dixie Hwy.). Continue on LeJeune Rd. in residential area to traffic circle (Cocoplum Circle). Drive halfway around the traffic circle to Old Cutler Rd. The Garden is exactly two miles from the traffic circle. Entrance will be on your left.
From the north or Miami Beach, take I-95 south to US 1 (S. Dixie Hwy.) Go south on US 1 to SW 42nd Ave. (LeJeune Rd.). Turn left on LeJeune, and drive south about two miles to Cocoplum Circle. Continue south on Old Cutler Rd. another two miles to the Garden. Entrance will be on your left.
From the south or the Florida Keys, take US 1 (S. Dixie Hwy.) north to SW 152 Street (Coral Reef Drive). Turn right, heading east on 152 Street to Old Cutler Road. Drive north to the intersection of SW 57 Avenue (Red Rd.) and Old Cutler Road. Follow the Fairchild Tropical Garden sign at that intersection, turning right and continuing on Old Cutler Road for one mile. The Garden entrance will be on your right.
From northwest of Miami, take highway I-75 to highway 826. Go south on 826 to Sunset Drive. Exit at Sunset Drive east, and drive east on Sunset to its end at Cocoplum Circle. Bear right and take your first right on to Old Cutler Road. You will see a sign for Fairchild Tropical Garden. Drive south two miles from the circle to the Garden. The entrance will be on your left.