In the heart of Little Haiti lies three acres of green space, a garden where members of the community can enjoy native wildlife, educational workshops and much more.
Miami Tropical Botanic Garden has been an oasis within this highly urbanized area since around 2020 and it is one of the last few green spaces left in the city.
But, as land values sky-rocket in the area, it’s in danger of being sold off — unless the team that manages the garden can raise $4 million by the fall.
Located on a residential street at the heart of the historic neighborhood, the garden is hidden from view by surrounding houses and accessible just through a side gate. One could easily walk by without realizing it is there. In fact, it doesn’t even show up on Google Maps.
When you walk in, however, you are met by a vast freshwater pond, its fountain sending ripples over the herd of turtles that live there. Behind that, there’s a huge greenhouse full of plants, right by to a smattering of palm trees.
“I fell in love with it,” recalled Surzelle Bertrand, describing her first time at the garden. “I was in awe when I saw the backyard.”
Bertrand, one of the team that looks after the garden, started a beekeeping school in Haiti, where she’s originally from. She hopes to one day host beekeeping classes there with her brother.
“It's important for us because this is the last green space we have in … Little Haiti,” said Bertrand. “Between Little Haiti and North Miami, there's no natural parks where the kids can come and enjoy nature, watch the butterflies, watch the birds.”
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A private owner has been leasing the land to Casey Zap, who lives in a house on the site. He leads a team of community members, academics and folks with experience in the nonprofit world who volunteer to take care of the garden and oversee its programming.
He started working on the property at the end of 2019, and he and other volunteers got the greenhouse up in fall of 2020.
“Our dream is to have more of this open to the community and have the community come here and enjoy nature,” Bertrand said.
Due to zoning issues, most visits are by appointments or for workshops and other programming. But as the team worked on ways to officially turn it into a public garden and increase access, Zap found out the land was going on the market — and he leaped on it.
“I was just dismayed that something this precious and beautiful could be destroyed,” he told WLRN.
Another garden team member put up a down payment for it, but right now they have to raise a whopping $4 million by the September closing date to complete the purchase or risk their garden being closed down.
Jason Downing, an orchid biologist at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden who is part of the Little Haiti garden's team, explained that spaces like this one bring multiple benefits to the community, from natural beauty and a canopy that provides rare shade, to water conservation and education, he said.
“Having places where people can learn about plants, conservation, throughout the county — kind of spread out throughout the county — I think it's critical to improve access, particularly with minorities and underserved communities,” Downing told WLRN.
Team member Maria Lovett, an FIU professor who teaches educational policy, explained how gardens like this one are important for kids in urban areas.
“It's kind of a living classroom,” she said, adding that it’s where students can learn about real-life community issues. “They're starting to see opportunities, to grow their own food, deal with food insecurity — younger students are learning about those issues.”
“It's important for people to see that it's not just like a pretty thing,” Lovett added. “There's opportunities here for folks to gain expertise and skills and apply them in all kinds of employment sectors.”
The team started doing educational programming in 2021. Right now they offer a variety of workshops and plan to do more free and paid ones in the future. They want to host yoga and pilates, join a seed share program, and even work with teens and young adults with special needs.
A tricky process
Perhaps unsurprisingly, purchasing the land is proving to be a tricky process but the team is hopeful. So far they have raised just under $50,000, but they couldn’t start asking for donations until they were well into the initial phase of the deal.
“This is not buying a suburban home,” Zap said, explaining the complicated process. “This is buying a piece of property in the middle of a city during a land grab.”
WLRN reached out to the property owner, architect Nathaniel Belcher. He didn’t return calls or texts. Zap said Belcher hasn’t disclosed all his reasons for selling, but is likely retiring soon.
“There’s no green space, nothing like this for the community,” Zap told WLRN. “And this is a community that, by and large, has some of the lowest per capita household incomes in the country.”
Along with raising money, they’re looking at some possible short-term loans.
“The real challenge now is closing on the deal,” said Samuel Diller, a garden team member who has over two decades of experience with community development in Little Haiti and Miami.
“And by the grace of God we have more time, and as we grow more community awareness of what we're doing, we're begging the community to look at this, to think about it – how can you help?”
And although they have various financial resources and grants they can apply for, and have their programming in place, they really can’t access any of those resources until they buy the land themselves.
Zap’s still optimistic.
“What's amazing is it's been a lot of small donations,” said Zap. “Sometimes as little as three dollars, which shows you how much people care because they basically are saying I have nothing to give but I'm giving what I can and that's so it's inspiring.”
All of the programming has the potential backing of donors and even support from the city of Miami. But if they can’t come up with the $4 million the property goes back on the market and is sold to the highest bidder.
That three acres of green space, exotic plants, and native wildlife could be another set of condos. Zap hopes that’s not what it becomes.
“To see the reaction of children when they come in here for the first time, and the way that they immediately respond – it's so powerful,” said Zap. “Ultimately we're all going to be gone, but this will hopefully still be here.”
The Miami Tropical Botanic Garden is located at 6415 NW 1st Place in Little Haiti. To make an appointment to visit, email thecenter@cstamiami.org.
