Lets get ready to RAMBLE

Today was the 68th annual RAMBLE Festival at Fairchild Tropical Garden. This is the event of the year for gardeners in Miami which includes common and exotic plant sales, an antique and flea market, fun food, and children's carnival. Every year the plant sale is bigger and better with more and more local nurseries and private plant sellers taking part. The Ramble has become a big fall festival with something for everyone. My wife loves the antiques/flea market section and I go straight for the plants.
The reason this festival is so popular with gardeners is the amazing variety of plants available for sale, with many unusual plants not found at local nurseries. My favorite time at the Ramble is talking with sellers and buyers. We are all gardeners here and the gardening tips are free. Of course, the main reason of the festival's popularity is the incredibly beautiful surroundings of our local treasure, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens.

Every year I have the same dilemma--I want to buy so many plants and have so little space! This year, I came away with three plants--a bromeliad for inside the house featuring a gorgeous purple and red flower (Aechmea del Mar), a Celosia Argetea ‘Caracas” for the backyard (beautiful bushy fuschia flowers), and a native butterfly weed with yellow and orange flowers for my butterfly garden. This last plant drew my eye when I saw a Monarch butterfly flittering and perching around its flowers--I quickly thought, "SOLD"!!!

Pictures of the grounds at Fairchild Tropical and Botanic Garden. There couldn't be a better place for this great yearly event and this year, the weather was truly perfect--sunny but cooler than normal. All around, a perfect day in Miami!