The kicker is that the other four gardens are in Hawaii, and the Kampong is right here in Miami, Florida.
The reason for this is daily simple – Miami is the only large city in the United States with the tropical monsoon climate suitable for the flora that live here.
The Kampong is a horticultural laboratory that spans 9 acres.
Before being open to the public, it was the experimentation location – and estate – of plant explorer Dr. David Fairchild.
Fairchild is responsible for bringing in over 200,000 different kinds of plants of exotic origin to America, which he planted here.
The enclosure “Kampong” is named after a word in Javanese, which means “enclosed village”, based on the word “compound”.
It’s hard not to have fun with all the exotic plants and fruit trees growing throughout the Kampong.
