Flamingo Road Nursery's fall festival is over. The six weeks of cornstalks, hay bales, Pepper Palooza, Tomato Fest and hayrides on antique tractors ended on November 2. Next comes Christmas Tree Village at the back of the 10-acre garden center. That means truckloads of fresh-cut Fraser firs from the nursery's own tree farm in North Carolina, hundreds of trees standing in water, and more than a thousand poinsettias.
In South Florida, the weeks after the pumpkins are when the gardening year begins. UF/IFAS Extension's month-by-month planting guide for South Florida has one of its longest lists in November. This Saturday, the Town of Southwest Ranches opens a set of private residents' gardens to ticket holders, with plants for sale. That makes the tour a good first stop for anyone planning to plant this fall.
Saturday's tour runs five hours this year
The Southwest Ranches Secret Gardens tour is Saturday, November 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $35 through Eventbrite, and the listing says no refunds. The listed venue is Rolling Oaks Barn, 17630 SW 56th St. The event description promises a tour of "the magical gardens at Southwest Ranches Residents private homes."
The Town's November 2026 newsletter calls it a chance to see "some of the most awesome and unique gardens in Town." It lists light refreshments, plant sales and giveaways, and proceeds go to the Town's College Scholarship Fund.
The schedule is longer than last year's. The 2025 edition was Saturday, November 15, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Rolling Oaks Park. Going from three hours to five gives you time to linger at each garden and still shop the plant sale before heading home. The plant sale is also why the date matters as much as the tour itself.
What goes in the ground this month
UF/IFAS's vegetable gardening by season page calls fall an excellent time to start a vegetable garden in Florida. It also says South Florida can plant its "spring" vegetables through fall and winter, up to February or March, before the summer heat arrives. So the growing season here runs from about now until late winter, and it's short enough that starting in mid-November makes a difference.
The UF/IFAS South Florida monthly calendar splits November into two lists.
Set out as transplants
- Broccoli, cabbage and collards
- Eggplant, peppers and tomatoes
- Lettuce and tropical spinaches
- Strawberries
Sow from seed
- Beans, peas and corn
- Carrots, radishes and turnips
- Cucumbers and squashes
Here's how the two lists work for a Southwest Ranches yard. A tomato or pepper transplant bought at Saturday's plant sale or a local nursery can go into a raised bed that weekend. The seed crops can go in beside it at the same time, so one fall bed holds both.
Where the plants come from in town
Southwest Ranches has working nurseries inside town limits, and two of them describe their stock in detail.
Perfect Choice Nursery is at 4700 SW 186th Ave and serves retail customers as well as wholesale. Its catalog covers rare plants and aroids, interior and shade plants, exterior plants, palms, topiaries and succulents. Its posted hours are Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it closes on major holidays. That makes it a good stop for the ornamental side of the yard: shade beds under oaks, a pool deck that needs palms, or a topiary for the front.
Cielo Farms Nursery is at 4680 Volunteer Road and grows bougainvillea, bromeliads and tropical plants. Visits are by appointment, and the nursery takes calls from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bougainvillea is the classic choice for a long fence line, and many lots in town have plenty of fence. If one of Saturday's gardens has a bougainvillea hedge worth copying, call Cielo ahead and book a visit.
Flamingo Road Nursery, just over the line in Davie, covers the holiday end of the season with its Christmas Tree Village. The nursery also runs reindeer crafts and free photos with Santa in Grandma's Garden in the weeks before Christmas.
The town market's next weekend is December 5 and 6
The Southwest Ranches Community Farmer's Market sets up at Southwest Meadows Sanctuary Park, 16290 Griffin Road. Its vendor mix includes plants and flowers alongside fresh produce, eggs, honey, prepared foods and artisan goods, and the vendors change from week to week.
The November market ran on the 7th and 8th. The next market weekend falls three weeks after the garden tour:
- Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, December 6, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
By then, anything sown the week of the tour should be up. The December market is a good time to fill gaps with more transplants or pick up flowers for the porch before the holidays.
The orchids come out the following Saturday
Flamingo Gardens hosts American Orchid Society judging on Saturday, November 21, from 2 to 4 p.m., and the public is welcome to watch. It's a close look at how judges evaluate plants that many South Florida gardeners grow on porches and tree trunks. It also comes one week after you've seen what your neighbors grow.
That same evening, Flamingo Gardens opens Hoffman's Chocolates Winter Wonderland. It runs from November 21 through December 30, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., with holiday lights, Santa's Village, live music, a holiday tree lot and seasonal food. It is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Evening admission is $24 for ages 12 and up, $17 for ages 3 to 11, and free for children 2 and under. It is ticketed separately from daytime admission.
December moves the gardens to the front yard
The Town's own season ends with lights. The November newsletter includes an entry form for the December Holiday Lights Contest, run by the Town's Rural Public Arts & Design Advisory Board at Town Hall, 13400 Griffin Road. By signing the form, entrants agree the Town may use photos of their decorated home. A yard planted in November will have filled in by the time it's lit up in December.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Secret Gardens Tour, $35 | Rolling Oaks Barn, 17630 SW 56th St. |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 2–4 p.m. | American Orchid Society judging | Flamingo Gardens |
| Nov. 21–Dec. 30, 5:30–9:30 p.m. | Winter Wonderland | Flamingo Gardens |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Community Farmer's Market | Southwest Meadows Sanctuary Park, 16290 Griffin Road |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. | Community Farmer's Market | Southwest Meadows Sanctuary Park, 16290 Griffin Road |
| December | Holiday Lights Contest | Entry form in the Town's November newsletter |
The tour starts at Rolling Oaks Barn at 10 a.m. Saturday, and UF/IFAS lists tomatoes, peppers and strawberries as November transplants.
The land is a big part of why people live in Southwest Ranches, and we spend a lot of time walking big lots and talking about what they can grow. If a garden on Saturday's tour has you thinking about your own acreage, the team at Joe Caprio and Co. Real Estate is happy to talk land, plantings and property, neighbor to neighbor. Contact Us.
