Baby it's Hot Outside, at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Wings of the Tropics exhibit at Fairchild

My grandparents are the sort of folks that are commonly called "snow birds."  They're retirees from up north who travel south to Florida when the weather gets chilly in the fall.  As I walked through Knoxville's January chill, I found myself thinking of my grandparents and all the other snow birds.  Although I enjoy winter and everything the winter landscape has to offer, there are times that I miss the heat of summer and the sight of vibrant, actively growing plants.

Last winter, I satisfied that desire by making a trek down to Miami to see the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden.  I got a special tour from my friend Nathan who had just finished an internship with the Fairchild.  Although the weather in Knoxville was frightful, Miami was muggy and in the high 70's, and everything was bursting with life.

During his internship, Nathan helped install the new "Wings of the Tropics" exhibit.  I'd been following the progress on Facebook, and I was really pleased to visit in person.  Visitors are able to closely observe thousands of tropical butterflies as they flutter about the 25,000 square foot pseudo-conservatory.  If you've ever visited an established conservatory, like the one at the U.S. Botanic Garden, Missouri Botanic, etc., then you can recall images of towering trees arching toward the ceiling.

Wings of the Tropics exhibit at Fairchild

One of my favorite parts about my visit to Fairchild was seeing a newly installed conservatory.  It was kind of like seeing a child whose parents had bought clothes that were a bit too big, knowing they would soon grow into them.  The trees were usually only about 15 feet tall.  The perennials and shrubs, correctly spaced, had bare earth between.  Swaths of annuals filled empty space, earmarked for future, more permanent plantings.  It was really something to behold.  It will be interesting to go back once things have filled in a bit more and matured.

The exhibit included a babbling brook, feeding stations, host plants to support the butterfly population, and a window into a laboratory where larvae and chrysalises are nurtured as replacements.  At a set time every day, visitors had the opportunity to release freshly emerging butterflies into the main house.  With wet crumpled appendages, the butterflies would crawl onto an extended finger, and wait until their bodies dried in the sunshine.  After a moment or two, they would unfurl their wings and fly off in search of nectar.

Nathan strikes a pose with some papayas
he'd planted during his internship

Another area Nathan worked in was the Edible Garden.  The garden included a variety of traditional and unusual fruits.  I learned that dragon fruit comes from an epiphytic cactus.  We checked on Nathan's "babies" -- the papayas he had planted two months earlier.  We tasted a selection of especially unfamiliar fruits, with the permission of garden staff of course.

Some of my other favorite areas included the Palm and Cycad Collection that showcases more than 1500 palms, the Keys Coastal Habitat where we tromped through a couple of mangroves and listened for birds, and Richard H. Simons Rainforest.  Flower spikes of various orchids reached from tree branches, like a cat pawing for attention.  A creek cheerily sang through dappled shade.  Overhead, some kind of a hawk rested in the branch of a tree.

In addition to plant conservation and collection, the Fairchild also offers an artistic outlet.  There are a few Chihuly pieces on the property, within the Tropical Plant Conservatory and out on the grounds. The "Sitting Naturally" exhibit, profiled in the ever popular Garden Design magazine, was on display during our visit.  Down near the mangroves, past the "Sausage Tree", a marble carving class was in session.

Water fountains were interspersed around the property, and cold drinks were available at drink stands.  Peckish visitors were able to satisfy their hunger at the Glasshouse Cafe, Lakeside Cafe, or could grab some Starbucks coffee and a pastry at the Shops at Fairchild.  There were also several buildings equipped with clean restrooms.

All in all, it was a really fantastic visit.  The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, the grounds were vibrant and well tended, and I actually forgot that it was the middle of winter.  My main suggestion is that when you plan your trip, bring weather appropriate clothes, a hat, and comfortable walking shoes.  You'll have more fun if you're dressed comfortably.  Sunscreen and sunglasses may also come in handy.

Other important considerations when planning your visit:

• Hours of operation: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Admission:
• Adults: $25
• Seniors: $18
• Youths age 6 to 17: $12
• Children age 5 and under: Free
• Fairchild Members: Free
• Parking: Free
• Accessibility:
• Wheelchairs are available to use free of charge, and may be borrowed from any garden entrance point.
• Shuttle service is available to various points of the garden.
• Tram tours of the garden are available.
• Trams are equipped with two hearing aids for hearing impaired visitors.
• Pets:
• Pets are not permitted on the property, with the exception of "Dog Day" and "Howl-O-Ween".
• Service animals are permitted on the property.

Special thanks to my cohort Nathan for inspiring the visit with his Facebook updates, for giving me the ground tour and journeying to the end of I-95 with me.  Also thanks to my grandparents who put me up at their home in Florida.

To see more of my photos from our trip to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, be sure to check out my flickr set.

If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions, please feel welcome to leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email.

Tell us about a visit to a tropical horticultural destination, real or planned.  Where would you go?  What would you do?

This Chihuly glass piece complements the colorful goldfish in the Tropical Plant Conservatory

The Palm and Cycad collection is home to more than 1500 palms and 350 cycad

For anyone wondering just what exactly a Sausage Tree looks like...

Community Gardening: Is it for you?

Beardsley's mission is to increase access to fresh produce
through education, product donations and outreach.

I am a college student who lives on a very tight budget, in a cramped apartment completely surrounded by shade.  After struggling to grow food on the patio, inside, and in a friend's yard, I decided to get a plot at a nearby community garden.  Now that the allocated growing season set forth by the garden has wrapped up, I'd like to share a little about my experience.

About the Community Garden

Beardsley Community Farm is a part of the city of Knoxville's Malcolm Martin Park.  Their mission is to increase access to fresh produce through education, product donations and outreach.  Although the farm is located just down the road from a Food City grocery store, many of the folks who live in the low income housing surrounding the property struggle with access to fresh fruits and vegetables. 

In addition to community garden plots, the Beardsley property
includes a berry patch, orchard, and a fenced in demonstration
garden complete with a greenhouse, chickens, worm
composting and massive rain barrels.

Beardsley is officially a 501-C4 government run non-profit.  Although the city mows areas of the property and funds some of the farm's operating costs, much of the work is done through the Community Action Coalition (CAC) AmeriCorps.  In a given year, the Americorp may contribute 3 to 5 staff members whose sole job is keep up the farm's operations.

In addition to community plots, the property includes a berry patch, orchard, and a fenced-in demonstration garden complete with a greenhouse, chickens, worm composting, and massive rain barrels.  The food produced in the demonstration areas is donated to organizations such as Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries, Family Crisis, and Bridge Refugees.  Gleaning beds are located just outside the community garden area.  The idea is that hungry folks will take food from the gleaning beds instead of the community garden plots.

In a given year, Beardsley will host about
1000 volunteers, like this group of UT students.

Not only does Beardsley offer space to grow food and providing produce donations to those in needs, but they also offer many educational opportunities to the community throughout the year.  These include hosting youth programs, reaching out to local churches, schools, and colleges, and their "Skillshare" events where local experts teach workshops about sustainable gardening practices.

In a given year, Beardsley will host around 1000 volunteers.   About one tenth of the volunteers come from the local community.  The rest come from local community colleges, universities, and work groups like Comcast and Scripps.  For this reason, Beardsley is not what I'd consider a "true" community garden that was founded by and for the community.  Even though the farm may never be completely community run, it isn't hard to argue that they do a great deal of good for their neighbors.

The plot thickens

I adopted a plot that had been
abandoned in the heat of summer.

Although I would have liked to get started gardening earlier in the spring, I didn't want to take away an opportunity for someone from nearby low-income housing to have a garden plot.  That's why I waited until August to take over one of the plots that had been abandoned earlier in the season.  Clearing out my bed took about four hours altogether, but it was easy work for a garden nut fueled by visions of freshly grown fruits and vegetables.

I left the previous owner's marigolds and two of the their tomato plants in case they came back for some food.  Although I later learned that they'd moved out of town, somebody had been enjoying the tomatoes.  Every time I came by to weed and water, there were only green tomatoes on the plants.

It was a bit late in the summer to grow warm season vegetables, so I spent most of August preparing the bed for my cool season vegetables.  I decided to make eight raised rows for my fall garden.  The water would easily drain from the raised rows.  Although this meant a bit more time watering in September, I hoped it create a warmer soil temperature and hopefully more productive crops later in the season.

Buckwheat provided some cool shade for the seedlings
until the temperatures were consistently in the 60's

I planted buckwheat between each row to provide partial shade and some respite from heat for my seedlings early in the season.  When the temperatures dropped down to the 60's during the day, I pulled up the buckwheat, and let it decompose in the trenches between the raised rows.  Then I covered with fall leaves, which also began to break down.  This increased the amount of organic matter and attracted worms, which carried some organic matter into their tunnels around the roots of my crops, increased drainage and aerated the soil.

I chose to direct sow instead of using store-bought transplants.  In September, I made a small trench along the top of each row.  I filled each trench with lettuce, spinach, turnip or broccoli seeds, then covered with some of the vermicompost from the system I keep on the patio of my apartment.  I set aside two rows for each plant, and planted one row of each crop two weeks apart to extend my growing season.  I had more greens than I knew what to do with from mid-September until the end of November.  Snow peas and nasturtiums were planted around the old tomato cages and marigolds.

Fall leaves between each row added organic matter
as they decomposed and attracted worms.

There were some problems with people picking my vegetables.  I don't think I ever had a tomato (although I didn't plant them and they weren't really any trouble to maintain), and in the middle of the fall season somebody did pick about half of my turnips.  The way I see it, the folks that picked the food probably needed it more than I did, and even after all of that I still had more than I knew what to do with.

Community Gardening: Is it for you?

Although I only worked in a community garden for a brief time, I've fallen in love with the experience.  Yes, sometimes other people picked my vegetables, but I always had plenty to feed myself.  Beyond just being able to provide fresh produce for myself that I probably wouldn't have been able to get on my limited budget, I also enjoyed the sense of community I felt when I worked in the garden.  I got to know some of the folks who live nearby that walk the track in the park, and catch up about the weather and what's going on in the garden.  I also learned a few new tricks from folks who worked in neighboring plots.

When deciding whether or not to join a community garden, I think that it would be a good idea to ask yourself the following questions: 

1. Do you lack space to successfully grow a vegetable garden at home? 
   
2. Are you looking for ways to add fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet?
3. Do you have at least an hour a week to spend maintaining your plot?  
4. Would you like to feel more connected to what's going on in the environment and your community?
5. Would you be able to keep your cool if somebody shared in your harvest without asking?

If you were able to say yes most or all of these questions, then joining a community garden might be right for you.

To see more photos of my plot at Beardsley community farms, check out my flickr set.
   

If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions, please feel welcome to leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email.
   

Folks who have community gardened before, what was your favorite part about the experience?  What was your least favorite part about community gardening?  Any advice for people who are considering joining a community garden?

There had been snow the morning before Thanksgiving when I cleared out my bed.  Community gardeners are encouraged to harvest their cool season vegetables by the 28th of November.