By Nannette Zapata, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a proud participant of the inaugural O, Miami festival. O, Fairchild is celebrating works by O, Miami poets who were inspired by the Garden’s horticulture, beauty and nature. We welcomed O, Miami poets to the Garden for the day so they could experience the wonder of the natural, tropical world firsthand. The poets were encouraged to either photograph or draft descriptions of the spots that most inspired them in their writings. Their poems are in the Japanese-style known as Haiku; or as we like to call it, Haikuculture.

Upon completion of their writing, we selected poems that captured the essence of the Garden and had placards made and installed in the spots which inspired the poems. We published a program containing the entire collection of poems, complete with stunning photographs taken in the Garden, which is distributed to all visitors when they arrive. As you travel through the Garden during April, you will discover poems placed in obvious and not-so-obvious locations. These are meant for you to happen upon and have moments of reflection, a concept which is the backbone of the O, Miami project. We hope our visitors from near and far enjoy the poetry as much as we have enjoyed participating in this project.

For more information about Fairchild and its O, Miami program click here.