I'm thinking about going. I'll prolly be going on the Sunday also if I do go.

I'll be there! It is the *only* reason I'll drive to Miami(G).

I went last year and it was a great time! The gardens are stunning, the Mango classes were fascinating, the trees are reasonably priced and are named/desireable/hard-to-find varieties. I need some new ones, since the freeze took many of mine down to the rootstocks:(.

The Mango Brunch is pricy, but superb! They have incredible Chefs and I'll happily pay the cost again, and hope to walk off the calories afterwards(G).

Come early, as Miami in July is an oven.

Lisa

Lisa how far is the drive from your place to miami?

Lisa, do you remember if they were selling Champagne mango trees down there last year?

Lycheeluva, it is about 1.5 hours south of us.

Jsvand5, they had ripe fruit for tasting (awesome!) but no trees yet for sale. They did hope to have them for this year's sales. Each table had Champagne Mangos on it. I planted the seeds from ours, but none germinated.

Lisa

Lisa are you planning to go on the saturday or sunday?

I'll be there on Sunday. Have to work on Saturdays..

Called today to find out about Brunch tickets, am waiting for a call back.

Lisa

Thanks for the info Lisa. I might have to make the trip if they have champagne's for sale this year. It has been my obsession for a long time now to find a true Champagne tree. I have a few small seedlings if you want a couple I could send them down to you. Now I just need to find someone that is going on Saturday to scope it out for me. Five hrs is too long for me to drive unless I know for sure that they have them. My wife would REALLY kill me if we drive down there and they don't even have them..

For those that can't make it to Fairchild's or live closer to Pine Island (near Cape Coral, fl) there is also another Mango Mania Festival...same weekend(July 11&12), this one's in Pine Island(near Cape Coral, Fl). Never been to either one, so can't vouche for them. It is cheaper $6.00 adults and $20 for Fairchild's. Just wanted to let people know that didn't know about this one!

I am going to try and attend this one, I have family that live 10 minutes from there, and it is 2 hours(R/T) closer to my house than Miami...I hope to at least taste/buy some mangos and lychees!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pine Island Mango Mania Festival

pug- doubt there will still be lychees- lychee season is pretty much over by the end of june. they may have a few left over.

lisa- hopefully we can meet up - i hope to be there on sunday (feel free to bring a couple of your delicious limes!)

Don't they have pre-sales for members before the festival? If so, you may be out of luck for some of the harder-to-find cultivars. Might want to confirm.

Okay, I heard back from Fairchild.

"Dear Lisa:
Sorry but there will be no Champagne. We will never have this variety until we figure out how to grow it better in South Florida. It performs poorly in our climate and soils.
The Champagne fruit that we sell at the IMF are from our relationship with Ciruli Brothers, the sole owner of the Champagne trademark.
Also, I am sorry, but we cannot pre-order trees. The trees for this year's website should be on the web. I will check this later on today to be sure.
Thanks and take care.

Richard J. Campbell, Ph.D.
Senior Curator of Tropical Fruit
Center for Tropical Plant Conservation
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden"

They are now accepting Brunch reservations. We had a blast last year, so am somehow going to scrape up the $$ to attend.

Hope to see you all there!

Lisa

Gerry,
I may try to make it down there for the weekend. If I fly down, I'm going to make it a couple of days.

Lisa,
Do you have any more info on the brunch and getting reservations? I don't want to commit to that yet. I wonder if they will be available all the way up to the event? Thanks

im definitely going one of the two days.

i love champagne mangos, i buy them by the dozen when i see them. i heard the trees do better in Mexico though so i grew a nam doc mai instead

Sucks about the champagne's. I guess I'll just have to wait on the seedling. It seems to be handling the climate fine by me so far so hopefully one day I will get some fruit.