Gardens Blog
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Water is one of our most precious resources. Plants, animals and humans all need it to survive. With 70% of the earth's surface being water, it would seem logical to think there is plenty for everyone. But there isn't….97% makes up the ocean, 2% is frozen in glaciers...
The land mass early European explorers discovered when stepping off ships some five hundred years ago would be frankly, unrecognizable to many Americans living today— perhaps no part of our nation experienced as much ecological loss as the South. The great longleaf pine forests have all but disappeared, lost to logging and development.
See an orchid, love an orchid. But a Tillandsia? What's that?? Tillandsia are fascinating epiphytes who belong to the bromeliad family and are quickly growing in popularity. You may know them more commonly as "air plants." Like all epiphytic plants, they do not...
Sarasota tends to be a pretty tropical place, but we can have relatively bad winters, and freezes are not unheard of, even along the coast. One of the groups of plants hardest hit by cold winters are palms; they tend not to show the damage for many weeks to months after the freeze, and they are slow to recover—a result of growing just one leaf at a time.
Visit the Gardens to see and learn more about these incredible flowers or visit our botany blog for additional details.
After five years of steering Selby Gardens with a steady hand as CEO and President, Thomas Buchter announced plans to retire on October 3, 2014.
Angela Maria Isaza has been drawing and painting for most of her life, using a variety of art forms, such as oil, collage and design, but her love for nature has influenced a favorite—the art of batik. In this medium, she finds the challenges of design and color to be...
Selby Botanical Gardens, the Botanic Garden at Ian Anderson's Caves Branch Lodge, and the Environmental Research Institute joined efforts in late April / early May, 2014 to conduct an inventory of the epiphytic plants of Belize. Two weeks of collecting yielded 200+...
Frangipani, Hawaiian Lei Flower (Apocynaceae) Origin: Mexico to South America Plumerias are some of the most popular trees of the tropics, famous for their gorgeous flowers. If you have ever been presented with a lei neckless, they were most likely plumerias! Almost...
Uncarina grandidieri (Pedaliaceae) Origin: Madagascar Our featured plant this go-around is pretty unique. Coming from an odd family and an odd island, Uncarina looks like a cotton plant made out of velvet with large yellow felt petunias glued on it. The leaves, when...
Amorphophallus titanum (Araceae) Origin: Sumatra, Indonesia For those that don’t know, Amorphophallus titanum has a reputation for being the largest and smelliest flower in the world. And while the term “flower” isn’t exactly correct (more on that in a minute) the...