The document provides an itinerary for a tour of South Florida gardens taking place from October 12-16, 2011. The tour will include visits to Kampong Gardens, Montgomery Botanical Center, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Fruit & Spice Park, R.F. Orchids, Everglades National Park, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, and Naples Botanical Garden. The itinerary provides details on locations, activities, and directors/managers for each stop on the tour.

1. Atlanta Botanical Garden presents The Best of South Florida Gardens Led by Mary Pat Matheson, Executive Director & Ron Determann, Director of Fuqua Conservatory and Orchid Center October 12 – 16, 2011

2. featuring Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Montgomery Botanical Center Kampong Gardens Naples Botanical Garden Vizcaya Museum & Gardens Everglades National Park R.F.Orchids Fruit & Spice Park Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park

4. October 12 Welcome Reception and Dinner Grove Isle Hotel & Spa

5. Grove Isle Hotel & Spa Welcome to a private island that distances you from the land and your ordinary mindset. 50 spacious casually elegant guestrooms, tucked within 20 lush palmpeppered acres. Endless views of Biscayne Bay, intimate gathering places, and signature spa and dining.

10. October 13 Kampong/Montgomery/Fairchild

11. Kampong Gardens Kampong is the fifth garden in the network of National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

12. An exceptional collection of tropical plants, with an emphasis on southeast and island Asia, had been assembled by horticulturist David Fairchild at his south Florida home on Biscayne Bay, The Kampong. Mrs. Catherine Hauberg Sweeney, who had traveled extensively throughout Indo-Malaysia, had acquired the property and continued in Dr. Fairchild’s tradition, expanding the collections and placing it on the National Register of Historic Places . The Kampong was gifted to the NTBG in 1984.

13. Ann Parsons – Director The Kampong Ann B. Parsons joined NTBG as Director of The Kampong in February 2009. Ms. Parsons has over 20 years of experience in botanical garden education programming and administration.

22. Montgomery Botanical Center Montgomery Botanical Center is the living legacy of Robert and Nell Montgomery, widely known as the founders of Fairchild Tropical Garden (now Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden).

23. Montgomery Botanical Center (originally The Montgomery Foundation) was established by Nell Montgomery Jennings in memory of her husband, Colonel Robert H. Montgomery, and his love of palms and cycads.

25. A non-profit botanic garden established in 1959, Montgomery Botanical Center keeps living specimens from wild plant populations worldwide. Emphasizing palms and cycads, the population-based, documented, scientific collections are available for study in Montgomery’s 120-acre botanical garden of exemplary design. Today, Montgomery Botanical Center advances botanical research, conserves rare species, and educates the community through workshops, lectures, publications, and tours of its scientific plant collections.

26. M. Patrick Griffith Executive Director Dr. M. Patrick Griffith has led Montgomery Botanical Center since 2005 -- developing the team, focusing resources, and setting priorities to meet the mission. Patrick has worked in leadership, living collections management, herbarium curation, rare plant survey, floristic inventory, laboratory research, and land management, and for botanic gardens, universities, government, and private interests. Patrick's academic activity has been in plant systematics and plant conservation, and is focused on living botanical collections.

35. Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden Behind the seemingly natural beauty of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden lies a carefully orchestrated blend of art and science. Documented botanical specimens provide valuable resources in science and education, while horticultural displays and the classic landscape design by William Lyman Phillips offer visitors an unforgettable aesthetic experience.

37. We invite you to enjoy the wonder that is Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Since 1938 Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden has assembled an outstanding collection of taxonomically arranged and well-documented tropical plants, emphasizing palms, cycads, flowering trees and shrubs, vines and fruit trees. Except for certain cultivated plants and critically endangered species, many of these plants are collected from the wild. These collections are now a resource of world significance. They also are an important local resource, providing the beauty which makes Fairchild a major cultural and visitor attraction, as well as offering a basis for education, research and conservation.

38. Carl E. Lewis Ph.D. December 2008 to present - Director, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Adjunct faculty at the University of Miami and Florida International University. March 2005 to December 2008 - Researcher, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Center for Tropical Plant Conservation. November 2004 to March 2005 - Acting director of Horticulture, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. 2001 to 2004 - R. H. Simons Senior Curator of Horticulture, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Head scientist for Fairchild's living plant collection. 2000 to 2001 - Postdoctoral Researcher, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

52. Marjory Stoneman Douglas (April 7, 1890 – May 14, 1998)

53. October 14 Fruit & Spice Park, R.F.Orchids, Everglades

54. Fruit & Spice Park Exotic fruits, herbs, spices, and nuts from around the world.

55. The Fruit & Spice Park is the only tropical botanical garden of its kind in the United States. Experience the lush trees brimming with colorful fruit whose very names and shapes evoke the exotic; Mangosteen, Fiji Longan, Dragon Fruit, and Jaboticaba. Visit the Park's herb and vegetable garden, stroll through the shady banana groves, and wonder at the majesty of the African Baobab trees. Visitors may sample fallen fruit (no above-ground harvesting is permitted) or get a taste of the season's bounty at the Welcome Center's tasting table.

57. Park Manager Chris Rollins

59. R.F.Orchids Bob Fuchs is a third generation orchid grower and his highly respected operation, R. F. Orchids is one of the finest in the South. Here you will find thousands of exotic orchids growing in a hammock like setting accented with gazebos, ponds, tiki huts and lush landscaping.

72. Everglades National Park In 1947, through a combination of federal, state, and private lands, a vast wetland teeming with life were dedicated as a National Park. Everglades was the first National Park preserved primarily for its abundance and variety of life, rather than for scenic or historic values.

75. Flamingo Bay Back Country Boat Tour

78. October 15 Vizcaya Museum & Gardens & Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park

79. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens Built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens features a main house on Biscayne Bay, ten acres of formal gardens, a rockland hammock (native forest), and soon-to-be historic village. Tour led by Ian Simpkins – Chief Horticulturist

88. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park encompasses much of Florida’s most spectacular swamp. More native orchid species grow in this 75,000 acre wilderness than in any other place on the continent.

89. Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk

103. Farewell Dinner Bayfront Inn on 5 th Avenue

108. October 16 Naples Botanical Garden

109. Brian Holley, Executive Director Brian Holley became executive director of Naples Botanical Garden in 2005. When he arrived in Naples he was tasked with creating a world-class garden from the ground up on 170 acres near Old Naples. To achieve this, Brian assembled an extraordinary team of designers from both the United States and abroad that The Miami Herald described as a “Dream Team” and “ a great coup for the young garden.” Prior to arriving at Naples, Brian was the executive director of the Cleveland Botanical Garden for 13 years, and served in a variety of positions at the Royal Botanical Garden in Burlington, Ontario, for 17 years.

124. Contact Us 3540 NW 13th Street Gainesville, FL 32609 1.800.451.7111