Miami Redland Fruit & Spice Park

By Maggie Dokic on October 4th, 2007
Categories: Entertainment, South Florida Living

I cannot take credit for the following article.  That distinction belongs to my friend, Chris Griffith.  Chris is usually selling real estate on the other side of our lovely peninsula, but is vacationing on the other side of our country right now.  She needs to have a talk with her activities director, as she is finding herself at a loss for things to occupy her time.  So, being the always-helpful-often-funny person that she is, she decided to write an article for my blog.  It was in sore need of it, too!  She even sent me the picture.  I promise to get back to writing as long as Chris promises to get back to enjoying her vacation.  Deal?  Deal!

Spice up your life!  The Fruit & Spice Park is a 35-acre subtropical botanical retreat smack dab in the heart of the historic Redland community. It’s just 35 miles south of Miami.  Maintained and operated by Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation, there are more than 500 varieties of rare fruits, herbs, spices and nuts from around the world including 80 varieties of bananas (who knew there were 80 varieties of bananas?) 70 different bamboos and 27 varieties of mangoes.  Who, in South Florida, doesn’t LOVE mango?!  There are tons more of other edible fruit and spice trees too!

You HAVE to come and see for yourself the lush trees popping with colorful fruit.  If you’re one of my Active Rain fans you may even recognize a name or two: Mangosteen, Fiji Longan, Carambola, Avocado, Dragon Fruit, and Jaboticaba.

You must also visit the Park’s herb and vegetable garden.  Take a stroll through the shady banana groves and count the varieties. Visitors are permitted to sample fallen fruit (Behave yourself, no above-ground harvesting is allowed) or get a taste of the season’s harvest at the Welcome Center’s tasting table.

This is a fast tour, maybe an hour or even longer if you’re a fan or an arborist.  Some folks make an afternoon of it.  Fruit & Spice Park is a unique, and tasteful experience.

Miami and the Redland has much to offer. Get out there and enjoy it.   Subscribe to my feed to learn more about Miami, Miami Real Estate and The Redland as I post new articles.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 4th, 2007 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Entertainment, South Florida Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1. Chris Griffith said at October 4th, 2007 at 6:17 pm

   Maggie, what did you rat me out? LOL

2. Ines said at October 4th, 2007 at 6:41 pm

   How nice is that! I love Star-fruit or as we call them in Spanish “carambolas”! This was so nice of Chris Maggie and the Redlands are absolutely beautiful.

   Have a great vacation Chris….and stop thinking about fruit and vegetables! : )

3. Maggie said at October 4th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

   Ines, you are too funny! When I saw the message I thought for sure it was from Chris. LOL on me! Yeah, what’s up with Chris? She needs to start thinking about relaxing, not blogging. But she was a real sweetheart for giving me the kick in the pants I needed!

4. Maggie said at October 4th, 2007 at 7:39 pm

   Oooops, Chris, your comment was stuck in moderation mode. Those darn spammers! Yes, I ratted you out! I cannot tell a lie. The post was written by you and you need to get credit for that. Thank you again. You’re a doll =)

5. Gena Riede said at October 4th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

   Well, it looks like old time week here. I had no idea that Chris was on vacation. I thought she was writing a winning article for AR!

   Now, get back to vacationing!

   Love the fruit and your tomato blog!

6. Maggie said at October 4th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

   Gena, thank you for your kind words on my blog. And golly, if I had known I would get such a flurry of activity, I would have posted earlier. =) I hope Chris is enjoying her vacation now. I’m working on my blog =)

7. Dena Stevens said at October 5th, 2007 at 8:53 am

   Food and blogging – does it get any better?

8. Jay & Boomer Jack said at October 5th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

   Looks to me like you got a whole basket of the elusive golden stars!
   Jay

9. Maggie Dokic said at October 5th, 2007 at 7:16 pm

   Jay, do you like them? I have a tree and don’t really care much for them. They’ll be in season in about 2 months. They do look pretty sliced up in fruit salad!

10. Jay & Boomer Jack said at October 5th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    I’ve never tasted one.
    Jay

11. Lynda Eisenmann said at October 5th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    Hi Maggie,

    Wow, this sounds like such a neat place. I’ve never heard of a place quite like this.

    The star-fruit in your photo really caught my eye. First time I saw them was in Hawaii, interesting taste too.

12. Maggie said at October 5th, 2007 at 11:58 pm

    Jay – you’re not missing much. LOL but that’s only my opinion. Some people do like them.

    Lynda – this place is neat AND it’s only 20 blocks from my home. I need to visit them again soon. =)

13. Monika said at October 6th, 2007 at 7:28 am

    Maggie,
    I love your blog and that title cracked me up! Is Chris still away on vacation? I bet she is gathering up tons of blog photos!

14. Ann Cummings said at October 6th, 2007 at 8:22 am

    Hey Maggie,

    I love this story – you’re right, who knew there were that many banana varieties?? You made me really hungry as I read about all the fruits and spices in that park – I bet it smells heavenly there strolling amongst all those trees and plants.

15. Joanne Hanson said at October 6th, 2007 at 11:47 pm

    Okay, now I am hungry! I am not supposed to eat this late at night 😉 I love your new look Maggie! And a great post by Chris. Some vacation!

16. Maggie said at October 7th, 2007 at 5:53 am

    Joanne – a little snack never hurt anyone =) Thanks for stopping by.

17. Marty Van Diest said at October 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    Very nice post about a local area. Almost an object lesson in how to write.

    I enjoyed it. I have never seen any fruit like that. I thought they were cut to that shape.

18. Maggie said at October 7th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    Marty – the kudos goes to Chris! LOL I hope you’ll return and sample some of my own writing as well. =)

19. Maggie said at October 9th, 2007 at 6:41 am

    Dena, Monika & Ann, sorry, your comments were stuck in moderation and I was having technical issues!

    Dena – LOL at that. But does it have to be healthy food? I would prefer a Big Mac.

    Monika – I am not sure if Chris is still away. Reminder that I need to check in. Thanks for the kudos on the blog!

    Ann – I hadn’t thought about it, but it does! If you come down here I’ll take you over there =)

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