University of Miami, March 7 and 8, 2026
It’s a go! University of Miami has approved a palm and cycad sale in Coral Gables, FL for the weekend of March 7 and 8. The sale will take place in the Faculty Parking lot adjacent to the Gifford Arboretum.
We expect an enormous variety of palm and cycad species. Hours of the sale are from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, March 7 and from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Sunday. Plus great advice from our growers on how to grow your special palm or cycad.
Free admission and parking. Plus great free advice from our growers on how to grow your special palm or cycad.
As we did with the Fall Sale, once our growers submit their species list, they will be posted on this website. When all growers have submitted their lists, we will post two composite lists, one sorted by species and the other by vendor’s name.
Tours of UM’s Gardens. We will have tours of both the arboretum and palmetum on Saturday and Sunday, led by our plant experts. At present, we plan 3 tours, with one on Saturday afternoon, one Sunday morning and the second on Sunday afternoon.
If you are interested in participating (only cycads and palms may be sold), please send an email to:
Palms@southfloridapalmsociety.org
and we will send you a Grower’s Agreement. Note that you must be a SFPS member to participate in the sale. Setup will be all day on Friday.
Fall 2025 Sale:
Our Fall Show and Sale occurred on November 8 and 9, 2025 at Fairchild Garden. Palm walking tours were conducted on Saturday and Sunday. There were ten local growers at our sale, selling over 400 species of palm and cycads. The selection was enormous. The Palm Report provides a complete list of all palms and cycads, sorted by plant species, and other information about the event. A second link is provided below with a listing of all plants by vendor name.
| Palm Report includes all plants for sale. | Plant Listing by Vendor |
Paintings by Linda Apriletti, a very accomplished plein air styled artist were offered for sale at our Fall Sale. Linda has shown her artwork in solo exhibitions, including at Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Park, Museum of the Everglades, and Biscayne Nature Center, and many group settings. She crafts her work the old-fashioned way, by going on location to immerse herself in the beauty that surrounds her.
Paintings by Linda Apriletti
Photos from past sales
A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE PALM SOCIETY & PALM SHOWS IN MIAMI
In 2022 the International Palm Society (IPS) celebrated its 67th anniversary. It is now a far-flung organization, with affiliate societies active around the world, but it was founded here in Florida. Dent Smith, an oil field worker turned investment house wizard, retired young to Daytona Beach, Florida, where, single-handedly, he created The Palm Society as a conduit for sharing his obsession with the stately plants.
From its beginning in 1955, the Palm Society has had strong links to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Among its first directors was Mrs. Marian Fairchild, widow of Dr. David Fairchild, the Garden’s namesake.
Another of the Palm Society’s early members, Lucita Wait, was longtime coeditor of the Fairchild Garden Bulletin alongside some notable writers such as Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Of the first 10 founding members of the Palm Society, the last one surviving was Stanley Kiem (1929-2020), who for many years was superintendent of the Garden. Not surprisingly, over time many palm enthusiasts have belonged to both the Society and the Garden.
A movie theater parking lot was the site of the initial Palm Society sale in Miami in the mid-1970s. As interest in palms burgeoned, a better sale venue was warranted. Accordingly, in 1979 Fairchild Tropical Garden hosted the first Fall Show and Sale of the Palm Society, with plants arrayed on tables just outside the Nell Montgomery Garden House. The next year, more space and less sun was needed, and the event’s location within Fairchild Tropical Garden was moved to the Montgomery Palmetum.
