Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

My face next to a Brownea bloom (for size purposes of course).

Yes! That is my face by an enormous Brownea sp. at the Fairchild Botanical Garden outside of Miami, Florida. You simply cannot comprehend the size of that flower unless my face is in it.

I visited this garden a few years back while working on a mall redevelopment in Dania Beach, Florida. I didn’t know many of the plants, (all very tropical compared to my dry, San Diego climate) but tropical plants just have the biggest leaves and biggest flowers and they have this impressive talent to make you feel small. It was fun (and tiring, because the garden is huge!) to walk around this place. Even if I can’t grow a lot of the plants I saw, it is always fun to dream!

What is your favorite tropical botanical garden? I would love to hear about it and put it on my list!