Palms, Cycads and Paintings at Fairchild. And Palm Tours! We invite you to the SFPS Fall Sale, Nov 8 and 9, between the hours of 10:00 am to 5:00 PM at Fairchild Garden in Coral Gables. The sale will feature hard-to-find palms and cycads.  We expect that over 300 species of palms will be for sale.  Our local growers will be on hand to offer expert advice.  The sale will be held in the palmetum, where many of garden's rare palms are growing, so we will have palm tours on both Saturday and Sunday.  In addition, a local artist, Linda Apriletti, will join us,  offering with her beautiful "plein air" style of  oil based paintings.  Many scenes will seem very familiar to Florida residents. 

Our vendors will be compiling the plants for sale, and we will post this information to our website..  Click here for the SFPS website.   Also, tour times will be added shortly before the sale. 

Fairchild is a beautiful garden,  so why not spend the day there? See the. Fairchild Botanic Tropical Garden website for more information.  

 

Two vendors have submitted their species list for a total of 171 plants (161 palms and 10 cycads).  I think we will be way above 300 species by Oct 25.  See www.southfloridapalmsociety.org 

Is there an admission fee?

10 minutes ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Is there an admission fee?

Yes.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden: Miami's Botanical Garden

Was thinking of going...but you're saying we have to pay admission to the gardens in order to buy palms at the sale?
 

JD

I don't see what the apparent issue is, like any event held at a public venue they are going to charge. Not trying to be snide when I say this, but people have to maintain the gardens, people have to run security, people have to organize this entire event. Yes, you have to pay to participate in it. Tamiami International Orchid Festival, Redland Orchid Festival, Aroid Festival, Comic Con, it's like anything along those lines.

I understand what you're saying. Just trying to make a point that if vendors are trying to sell plants and make money, it would be easier if it was a free event open to the public.  The Edison Estate and also Naples Zoo do similar events here on the Gulf Coast and they are free and open to the public.  But maybe event is really only for palm society members..so charging a fee isn't a big deal to them

Either way, I'll planning to attend on Nov 8th!

JD

JD, great to know you are coming.   The sale is absolutely open to the public, and the admission  fee is not charged by SFPS, but it is the normal  general admission charged by Fairchild Garden.  So, on any given day, you pay for the opportunity to enjoy the garden itself, including the butterfly exhibit, the rainforest,  the conservatory (my personal favorite), the Victoria lily pond, the vine pergola,  and the cafe where you can watch butterflies as you have lunch.  So, you can consider the SFPS palm and cycad sale as the main event or an added attraction.   We will have palm tours also, each day at 11:00 and 2:00 pm.   I hope to complete posting of all species lists by November 1.  

On 10/23/2025 at 11:05 PM, Dave from Miami said:

JD, great to know you are coming.   The sale is absolutely open to the public, and the admission  fee is not charged by SFPS, but it is the normal  general admission charged by Fairchild Garden.  So, on any given day, you pay for the opportunity to enjoy the garden itself, including the butterfly exhibit, the rainforest,  the conservatory (my personal favorite), the Victoria lily pond, the vine pergola,  and the cafe where you can watch butterflies as you have lunch.  So, you can consider the SFPS palm and cycad sale as the main event or an added attraction.   We will have palm tours also, each day at 11:00 and 2:00 pm.   I hope to complete posting of all species lists by November 1.  

 

Currently, we have posted species list of 9 out of 10 vendors.  I hope to receive the last list in days.  There are some super rare palms and cycads for sale.  

All our growers have submitted their plant lists.   In the Palm Report, you will find the finally tally, with 399 unique species of palm and 31 species of cycad, for a grand total of 420 unique species.   This is a huge selection of common,  uncommon and impossible to find elsewhere!     This sale is huge in terms of variety, and unmatched in Florida or elsewhere.  List can be at:

https://southfloridapalmsociety.org/palm-sale/

Dave

Link to palm list not working 

On 10/19/2025 at 9:27 AM, JD in the OC said:

I understand what you're saying. Just trying to make a point that if vendors are trying to sell plants and make money, it would be easier if it was a free event open to the public.  The Edison Estate and also Naples Zoo do similar events here on the Gulf Coast and they are free and open to the public.  But maybe event is really only for palm society members..so charging a fee isn't a big deal to them

Either way, I'll planning to attend on Nov 8th!

JD

I was thinking the same. Leu Gardens has a plant sale every spring and the garden admission is free. We throw a donation to the garden but the amount is determined by us. Paying $90 just to go shopping for plants seems excessive to me.

On 10/23/2025 at 11:05 PM, Dave from Miami said:

JD, great to know you are coming.   The sale is absolutely open to the public, and the admission  fee is not charged by SFPS, but it is the normal  general admission charged by Fairchild Garden.  So, on any given day, you pay for the opportunity to enjoy the garden itself, including the butterfly exhibit, the rainforest,  the conservatory (my personal favorite), the Victoria lily pond, the vine pergola,  and the cafe where you can watch butterflies as you have lunch.  So, you can consider the SFPS palm and cycad sale as the main event or an added attraction.   We will have palm tours also, each day at 11:00 and 2:00 pm.   I hope to complete posting of all species lists by November 1.  

Understood. We would like to go but we are almost 4 hours away. We would only be going for the sale and really wouldn’t have time to see anything. And doesn’t the garden get a % of the sales? That should offset the admission fee.

For some of the plant lists, sometimes there are a few species missing from the sales too, so fair warning for travelers. This has been my experience couple years ago when seeking out specific plants from the lists and was told it hadn't been brought. lists may have increased fidelity now

have a great time at the sale! Below are some pictures I took at Fairchild itself. Will post pictures of palms I purchased at the sale too..

Dypsis mirabilis 

Licuala Mapu

Chambeyronia hookeri 

Caryota ophiopellis 

Dypsis Moantsetra

Pinanga sp

Cyrtostachys renda 'Theodora Buhler'

Here's a couple of smaller things I bought today.  Carpoxylon and Beccariophoenix fenestralis.  Bigger palm I didn't get a photo of yet but gotta make room in the pickup for the return trip to Texas!

@JD in the OC, thanks for posting photos of Fairchild - yours turned out much better than mine!  We visited Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, Montgomery and Pinecrest Gardens yesterday as well (thanks @Mandrew968).  Here's the monster Hyophorbe that I picked up at the sale.  Gonna be a full truckload as we bought more stuff!

11 hours ago, Fusca said:

@JD in the OC, thanks for posting photos of Fairchild - yours turned out much better than mine!  We visited Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, Montgomery and Pinecrest Gardens yesterday as well (thanks @Mandrew968).  Here's the monster Hyophorbe that I picked up at the sale.  Gonna be a full truckload as we bought more stuff!

Very cool!  Montgomery is a treat!  Since they don't open to the public.  I've toured it twice.  I found some new palms within the jungle of Fairchild that i hadn't seen before.  It's always a fun garden to visit!  Hope your palms do good in TX.  Give that Carpoxie tons of water!

JD