University of Miami, March 7 and 8, 2026
We have submitted an application for a palm and cycad sale at the University of Miami 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. Once we receive approval for the sale, we will be sending out vendor applications. If you are interested in participation, please send an email to:
Palms@southfloridapalmsociety.org
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.
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 with a listing of all plants by vendor name.
| Palm Report includes all plants for sale. | Plant Listing by Vendor |
| Linda Apriletti (Artist, oil-based paintings) | Clay Porch, Vendor #2 |
| Albert Livingston, Vendor #31 | Jeff DeMott, Vendor #7 |
| Ellis Brown, Vendor #68 | John Schild, Vendor #75 |
| Garin Hamilton-Jones, Vendor #6 | Stephen Jurek, Vendor #4 |
| Dagoberto Rodriguez, Vendor #5 | Jeff Searle, Vendor #57 |
| Ron Croci, Jr, Vendor #66 |
Paintings by Linda Apriletti, a very accomplished plein air styled artist were offered for 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
And Next Year?
We are in the planning stage for our next palm sale, to be held at the University of Miami, adjacent to the Gifford Arboretum, with the anticipated date of March 7 and 8, 2026. If our request is approved, we will have walking tours of both the Palmetum and the Arboretum. Free admission.
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.
