About In 1927, Floyd and Jane Wray purchased 320 acres of land near the Everglades for $5.00 per acre to establish a citrus orchard.  They named their enterprise Flamingo Grove and planted their first orange tree on February 22, 1927.  Over the next three years, the Grove expanded to 2,000 acres, with an inventory of more than 60 fruit varieties.     Their business model included selling 5-acre plots of land to investors for $3750.  Each acre was pre-planted with 66 citrus trees.  The Flamingo tangelo was hybridized at the Grove in 1928 and immortalized in a poem by Jane.  The Wray’s also established a botanical collection of rare tropical plants and trees.  They obtained the specimens at no cost from the U.S.…