Gardens Blog
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Cabbage palm boots Golden polypody growing on cabbage palmThe official state tree of Florida since 1970, the cabbage palm, or sabal palm, (Sabal palmetto) is easy to spot in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. Sabal palmetto belongs to a class of flowering plants called...
Written by Shawn McCourt, Ph.D., Plant Records KeeperFigure 1. Blooming flatwoods plum (P. umbellata) draped in Spanish moss on the perimeter of MSBG’s downtown campus (Photo by Sandra Robinson)Figure 2. Chickasaw plum (P. angustifolia) in bloom along Mound Ave. at...
Flowers of the pink trumpet tree at Selby Gardens' Downtown Sarasota campus (Photo by Bruce K. Holst)Written by Shawn McCourt, Ph.D., Plant Records Keeper Just beside the path south of the Children’s Rainforest Garden at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ downtown campus...
Written by Elizabeth Gandy, Curatorial Assistant When we hear the word “parasite,” often the first things that come to mind are very undesirable critters like bed bugs, roundworms, or my personal favorite, bot flies. Actually, plants can also be parasites, with about...
Scott P. Egan, Rice UniversityLove vine on wasp gall on live oak!Love vine (Cassytha filiformis)In developing this month’s EcoQuest, Lookin’ for Love Vine, we came across the research of scientists from Rice University on the interaction between Cassytha filiformis...
Many visitors to Florida each winter ship or take back citrus for their friends and family up North. It would not be surprising if the guests at what was then the Webb Winter Resort on the Historic Spanish Point campus did the same. Evidence implies that packing...
Photo by Dave VitoloPhoto by Dave VitoloAloe marlothii (Mountain Aloe) is a beautiful succulent that displays grayish-green leaves all year long. During the winter months, it is in full bloom and at the downtown campus of Selby Gardens, visitors can find this...
On Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17, 2021, Selby Gardens partnered with UnidosNow to offer more than 130 families free admission to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus. The families enjoyed the gardens and toured the...
Photo by Aaron FinkWritten by Shawn McCourt, Ph.D. When one thinks of flowers in southwest Florida, roses seldom come to mind, yet a handful of species, hybrids, and cultivars do thrive here. One noteworthy cultivar of the China rose (Rosa chinensis) called ‘Louis...
Love vine, Cassytha filiformis, is a parasitic vine native to Florida in the Lauraceae family, the same family as avocado. While the name “love vine” stems from its reputation as an aphrodisiac, this plant is anything but sweet! As a parasitic vine, it twines itself...