Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has a National Collection of Orchids and Epiphytes
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are a delightful green oasis on the shores of Sarasota Bay. The 14-acre gardens were created by Marie Selby and still retain the feel of a private much-loved garden rather than a botanical showcase.
Start your visit in the theater with the short film. It tells the story of how this lovely Mediterranean style home and gardens were created by Marie Selby and her husband, William, who made his fortune in the oil industry. Although wealthy, they chose to create a simple home and informal gardens to enjoy as their winter residence.
The house is not open for tours but the property is used to house a reading room, café, gift shop and a Kids Discovery Corner. Other buildings behind the house are used to house the Museum of Botany and the Arts and are used for special events such as art exhibitions, photographic displays and garden themed activities.
Winding paths lead through the gardens, passing hidden areas, planted borders and unique features.
Photo credit Nita Ettinger
One of the highlights is an old ficus – commonly referred to as banyan – with spreading branches providing a shady canopy for many other plants.
Photo credit Nita Ettinger
Highlights at Sarasota’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Bromeliads, palms and planted borders make this a restful place to walk at leisure, enjoying the fragrance of exotic blooms and flowering bushes. In spring, the huge pink tassels of the Shaving Brush Tree (Pseudobombax Ellipticum) are scattered across the grass making an unusual sight.
Photo courtesy Selby Botanical Gardens
The Rainbow Gum Tree is another tree worth looking for as it has an extraordinary rainbow-colored trunk. Further down the garden’s huge staghorn and elkhorn ferns are suspended in the old trees on sturdy chains.
The hibiscus garden has many showy blooms as this flower is a favorite with Florida gardeners. At the far end of the gardens is the Butterfly Garden, planted with flowers to provide food and leaves for butterflies to lay their eggs.
Photo credit Nita Ettinger
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