Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Lisa Wade, senior gardener, and Jeff Pierson, garden manager.


Visit their website: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

A World of Plants to Enjoy

Built Around a Foundation of Research

Rick Kelly

This year, I have explored several of central Florida's gardens, from Bok Tower in the highlands of Lake Wales to Selby in Sarasota on the Gulf Coast. My frist visit to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens occurred when I traveled with the University of Florida's Ornamental Horticulture Club to visit ornamental plant growers in west central Florida. Selby was newly opened under the directorship Dr. Calaway H. Dodson. One of my professors, Dr. Thomas Sheehan, had worked with Dr. Dodson (if my memory serves me well) to develop the orchid display in the display greenhouse.

The gardens then, as now, were a wonder to behold. Every season offered something new and wonderful to see. In addition to providing visitors with incredible displays of tropical splendor, the facility has become an important identification center for orchids, bromeliads and other plants, and a source of information on plant canopy ecosystem research. Learn more about this work and the wonders to behold by visiting the Selby website.

Selby has become part of our partnership with public gardens for the display of best-of-class annual bedding plants that perform well in this climate. Lisa Wade, senior gardener, Jeff Pierson, garden manager, and their team have done a wonderful job in making this display a success, in our attempt to provide information to the public on cultivar performance.

Turn the TV off, leave the concrete jungle behind, explore and learn. Selby waits for you, as do all the wonderful gardens found throughout our state.

Visit all the wonderful public gardens in Florida. They can be found at this link: http://www.floridaplants.com/flgardens/regional.htm.

Click on the thumbnails below to see more pictures of my visit.

The first Best-of-Class Display of Annual Bedding Plants

A Cooperative Effort Between Marie Selby Botanical Gardens & University of Florida - IFAS


Verbena.	Best-of-class orange and purple violas greet visitors with a name tag identifying the variety.			Recently pruned best-of-class dianthus flushing out with color only a stone's throw from salt water.	Young best-of-class snapdragons beginning to bloom.


Many best-of-class cultivars were displayed on Palm Avenue that were viewed by visitors and passersby the sidewalk and road.


Yellow wallflower, a hit in several gardens, is now going to seed as the spring temperature increases.		A number of young best-of-class pansy and violas cultivars starting coming into full bloom or already in their full glory.

Selby Gardens - The Rest of the Story

Below are but some of the many plants and other interesting features that make up Selby Gardens.


An inviting place for rest and conversation, while taking in the view.	Amaryllis grace the paths near Sarasota Bay.		A monarch butterfly at rest on a salvia flower spike.	A forest of bamboo draws you down one of many garden paths.

Annual Bedding Plants


Blue ageratum blooms at the base of a queen palm.	Dusty miller lines a bed of dwarf snapdragons ready to put on a second flush of color.	A wide variety of annuals.		Curly parsley is a wonderful addition to the garden as an herb and an ornamental; one I have used often.	Gazania or treasure flower (Gazania sp.) [Asteraceae] fringing a path and at the base of vine-covered tree .


Selby takes you right to the bay.				The Selby House	Stone and water appear as one in this unusual water feature near the Selby house.	Bromeliads and amaryllis add color to Christy Payne House - now a museum.

Hoya


Fruit trees.	Banyan Trees (Ficus bengalensis) [Moraceae].		A gold tree (Tabebuia argentea or T. caraiba) [Bignoniaceae] lays down a carpet of yellow flowers on this inviting brick path	A variety of wax plant (Hoya carnosa) [Apocynaceae] vine and an inflorescence.


More annuals: impatiens; caladiums peeking out in right photo.		More caladiums waking up from a cold winter.			A beautiful verbena highlights the base of a date palm, a view of the bay in the distance.

In the Display Greenhouse


Scene of orchids and statuary when approaching the greenhouse.	Anthuriums are found high and low.	Rex begonia (Begonia masoniana) 'Iron Cross'
			Bromeliads
	Ferns [Non-Flowering Vascular Plant Families]			Orichids [Orchidaceae]

	A variety of the harts tongue fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium)	Staghorn ferns (Playtcerium spp.)
Bromeliads

Orichids


					Calathea scriuoides [Marantaceae] Brazil	Medinilla cummingii [Melastomataceae] Maylesia


Thumbergia mysorensis [Acanthaceae] India

More Garden Scenes


Waterfall deep in the "jungle" with Koi swimming in the foreground.


Golden Shrimp Plant (Pachystachys lutea) [Acanthaceae].	Majestic tree ferns invite you into the garden.		Cool shade.	Bromeliad Quesnelia arvensis [Bromeliaceae].		The screw pine (Pandanus utilis) [Pandanaceae]


Bromeliads of great diversity are found all over the gardens.			Orchid species greet visitors near the display greenhouse.		A vast span of turf draws you to what lies beyond, or invites you to pull off your shoes and soak up some sun.	Layers of plants tie architecture and sculpture together.


Philodendrons and ferns cover the ground a rise toward the sky creating a lush affect.	A philodendron greets visitors following the brick road.	Kapok tree (Bombax ceiba) [Malvaceae]		A floriferous planting of begonias.	A wealth of plants line the sidewalk leading to Selby's entrance.	Crossandra infundibuliformis


		The fragrance garden.			Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) [Solanaceae - S. America]


			Orchid Epidendrum radicans


If you enjoyed this tour of Selby, click on the gator to view pictures from later visits to this garden:

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