In 1962, the City of Miami Beach created the “Garden Center” on a vacant site across from the Miami Beach Convention Center (built in 1957), operating it as a city park along the historic Collins Canal — dug in the early 1900s by pioneer John Collins to transport mangos and avocados to the Port of Miami.

The site was once part of a golf course developed by Carl Fisher, whose baby elephant Rosie famously caddied for President-elect Warren Harding in 1921. By 1922, Miami Beach was home to the world's largest avocado and mango groves — though the city's agricultural roots soon gave way to tourism. Over the following decades the Garden weathered economic downturns, wars, and hurricanes, falling into decline by the 1980s and suffering further damage after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The turning point came when landscape architect Raymond Jungles led a major redesign, introducing native plants, water conservation, and an immersive, layered landscape. Jungles reimagined the Garden as a democratic space — beautiful, inclusive, and educational — welcoming a broad cross-section of the community and turning it into a dynamic civic resource.

Today, the Garden is a public-private partnership owned by the City of Miami Beach and operated by the Conservancy — a living reflection of the city's history, from agricultural roots to cultural resilience and ecological renewal.