The Preston B. Bird/Mary Heinlein Fruit & Spice Park is the only tropical botanical garden of its kind in the United States. The tropical climate of the 37-acre facility can be found nowhere else in the continental U.S. and hosts over 500 varieties of fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, and nuts, and other commercially important plant specimens from around the world.

The Fruit & Spice Park was the realization of one woman’s vision to create a showcase for the rich agricultural bounty and heritage of the area known as Redland. Mary Calkins Heinlein came from a family of pioneer homesteaders in Redland which got its name from the reddish color of its soil.

Redland became the first lasting settlement of South Dade County as its sub-tropical climate created a unique agricultural environment able to produce a wide variety of exotic fruit. An 1896 newspaper stated that farmers in South Dade were producing “avocado pears, mangos, sapodillas, pa paw (papaya), lemons, limes, etc.” These were just some of the sub-tropical fruits and plants Mrs. Heinlein felt would provide a unique garden display.

24801 SW 187th Ave, Homestead, FL 33031
Hours: Open  9AM–5PM
Phone: (305) 247-5727
http://redlandfruitandspice.com