Gardens Blog
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Aquatic milkweed (Asclepias perennis) by Wade Collier Milkweeds are named for their milky latex, which is found in their stems, leaves, and pods and make them unpalatable to many animals. Milkweeds produce high quality nectar and depend on a variety of insects (bees,...
Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is beautiful and monarchs love it! But is it good for them?Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)Photo by Wade CollierTropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), which is native to Central American and Mexico, has become...
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is an easily recognizable and beloved butterfly species in North America. Monarchs are one of only a few migratory insects. They embark upon a 3,000 mile migration each fall, heading to the cool, high mountains of central...
Photo of Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) by Wade Collier.We are just one week away from the City Nature Challenge! Check out the video below and our flyer, with local bioblitzes planned throughout the four-day observation period, April 30 to May 3. Download...
The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is an international effort to get people outside to document their local biodiversity. Over the course of four days, citizen scientists around the world will log as many observations of the natural world as they can. Then experts will...
© canstockphoto_liveslowIn a nod to the "Roy Lichtenstein: Monet's Garden Goes Pop!" exhibit at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Downtown Sarasota campus, April’s EcoQuest Challenge is Plants that Pop! We are focusing on plants that spread their seeds through...
For our March Ecoquest, Check your boots, we have been working with local cabbage palm expert Jono Miller. He wrote a very informative article for Palmetto, Florida Native Plant Society’s newsletter, which is directly related to our EcoQuest. It is not sold on...
Bioblitz Group in the field.The goal of the Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora project is to enlist the help of citizens in documenting the diversity and distribution of plants in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, utilizing the iNaturalist app and website. You don’t have to be a...
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 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...