Save the Date! What’s Out There Weekend Miami, April 12-13

The Gardens of Vizcaya, designed by Diego Suarez. Photo by Charles Birnbaum.

Craving some warmth after this winter’s deep freeze? Start making plans now for What’s Out There Weekend Miami, April 12-13, 2014, with free tours of more than two-dozen of the region’s significant landscapes.

(upper): Iconic Lincoln Road, designed by Morris Lapidus, photo by
CharlesBirnbaum; (middle): the Cluett Memorial Garden at
Bethesda-by-the-Sea in PalmBeach, photo by Wally Gobetz; (lower):
Pinecrest Gardens in the Parrot JungleHistoric District, photo courtesy
of Pinecrest Gardens.What’s Out There Weekend Miami will offer tours of lush, tropical flora and landscapes from Palm Beach to Miami Beach to Cutler Bay. Some tour highlights include: Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, including the iconic 1960s Modernist blocks designed by Morris Lapidus along with Raymond Jungles’ recent design at 1111 Lincoln Road and West 8’s Miami SoundScape Lincoln Park at the New World Symphony; Bonnet House’s 35 acres of tropical gardens that incorporate an eclectic and diverse mix of regional ecosystems; and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, the masterwork of Columbian landscape architect Diego Suarez, who merged Italianate classical design with native tropical plants in this extravagant ten-acre estate garden. Other notable regional parks, plazas, and botanical gardens will also be included in Weekend tours.

As with all What’s Out There Weekends, local partners are instrumental to making the tours a success. Partners to date include the Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Citizens for a Better South Florida, Miami Design Preservation League, Dade Heritage Trust, and The Villagers, Inc. Local firms and businesses already on board as sponsors include Armstrong Landscape & Design Group, Colony Hotel & Cabana Club, Tropical Irrigation, Nievera Williams, Sanchez & Maddux, Inc., and Arquitectonica. Faculty members from University of Miami’s School of Architecture, Joanna Lombard and Rocco Ceo, are working closely with TCLF staff to identify tour sites and engage students. Maria Nardi with Miami-Dade County has brought the county on as a partner and connected TCLF with other local partners.

The Miami Weekend is shaping up to be a marvelous homage to the region’s remarkable horticultural, design and cultural legacy - and registrations are now open. Watch this space for more information about other What’s Out There Weekends this year, including Richmond, VA (October 25-26) and a reprise of What’s Out There Weekend Los Angeles, this time with a focus on the work of pioneering landscape architect Ralph Cornell (Fall 2014, dates TBD).