Orchid Nurseries Near Miami

[RNCollins]

Hi! I will be flying in and out of Miami in February and I was just wondering if there were any orchid nurseries near Miami... Maybe no more than a couple of hours drive... I was thinking of renting a car for the day.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[tucker85]

Homestead is about 30 minutes south of Miami. There are several commercial orchid growers in Homestead and the surrounding area. Take a GPS because it's an agriculture area and some places are hard to find. I would recommend Carib Plants, which is one of my favorites. RF Orchids is fun to visit because it's a beautiful setting but they sell mostly vandas and they're a little expensive. Soroa Orchids is a decent place to shop. I've heard that B&G Orchids and Stelmar Gardens are both very nice but I've never visited either of those.

[RNCollins]

Originally Posted by tucker85

Homestead is about 30 minutes south of Miami. There are several commercial orchid growers in Homestead and the surrounding area. Take a GPS because it's an agriculture area and some places are hard to find. I would recommend Carib Plants, which is one of my favorites. RF Orchids is fun to visit because it's a beautiful setting but they sell mostly vandas and they're a little expensive. Soroa Orchids is a decent place to shop. I've heard that B&G Orchids and Stelmar Gardens are both very nice but I've never visited either of those.

Thanks Tucker!

I remember driving through Homestead the year after Hurricane Andrew hit on our way to the Florida Keys. It was like a war zone.

I could rent a car for a day and check out the orchid growers. Then I have to think about packing and fitting the orchids in my carry on bag...

[hapnor]

I have never considered flying with plants in my carry on. I just had to check the TSA.gov website and sure enough, permitted.

Prohibited Items | Transportation Security Administration

[JDT]

You might want to check out the AOS website, on their home page under the top banner on the right hand side is a link "Orchid Source Directory." Follow the instructions to find Florida, it will list all the Florida nursery's you will see the ones in Miami and Homestead. It will also list who is wholesale and who is open to the public and what species they sell.

[POLKA]

There is also Sedona Orchids in Homestead, and they have a website.

Here is a portion of positive remarks I made on another forum about them. I am a happy camper. And, you get to roam an orchid nursery! <sigh>

<snip>
Just wanted to tell everyone that I had a good experience with David Kridel over at Sedona Orchids. He makes some of his own crosses, but he also has some vintage cattleyas, and some white catt divisions caught my eye. So, I purchased two of those.

They were as large or larger than their description, and arrived well packed, and the plants appeared to be clean. There was even a free division of another white orchid that he sent along!

He needed to estimate the postage (which I forgot about) and I received the refund in the mail today <now about six weeks ago>.

Honest man, honest descriptions, and the follow-through to prove it to me.
<snip>

You might give David's place a try while you are in town.

Take care
and <snifff> happy shopping!

Rex

[RNCollins]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions!

There is a place up near Ft. Lauderdale called Butterfly World that looks interesting... The web page doesn't load on my iPad. I don't leave till February so I have time to plan.