Saturday, November 08, 2008

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!

10 comments:

Green thumb said...

Look like wonderful settings for a plant festival.
It must be fun to interact with people sharing the same interests, I wish I too could be there to gain some free tips!

Brenda Maas said...

Looks like a lot of fun.

Cheryl said...

What a beautiful place....and you can buy plants to.....what a great day out.....love it that you are thinking of the butterflies......

Great post Rusty and some lovely photographs.........

Susan said...

You showed great restraint in only buying 3 plants out of that great looking selection. I love fall plant sales. Great looking plants, especially that bromeliad - WOW!

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous as I sit here with dormancy at my door.

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous as I sit here with dormancy at my door.

Gail said...

Your gardening world is so very different from ours...there you are with all those tropicals! I love a plant sale....love the native butterfly weed. A good host and nectar plant!

gail

Naturegirl said...

How wonderful to see palm trees as here we prepare for November frost. The image with the reflection is simply captivating! The Tropical garden is a beautiful location for such a festival!This event would be very interesting to experience.

Unknown said...

I would probably still be at that plant sale! It's pretty there. Great choices, have you ever grown celosia? It is a HEAVY reseeder. I have it coming up in the woods and in my grass. It's pretty and the bees love it.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

After seeing the pics on your main page, I explored to the previous page. I love plant and antique sales. I don't know which I would have headed to first. What a beautiful setting! I'm with you on not having such a big yard.