Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a respected center for research and education, as well as a famous showplace that delights more than 130,000 visitors each year. Our visitors see beautiful horticultural displays and learn from our many educational programs. They also take away with them a better understanding and greater appreciation of the natural world and the challenge it faces. Overview Nested in 14 acres and amongst 12 buildings in a brick-laid residential section of Sarasota, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is an open-air and under-glass museum of thousands of colorful and exotics plants. Many of these plants have been collected from the wild on more than 200 scientific expeditions to tropical rain forests by Selby Gardens research staff. Selby Gardens is perhaps best known for its living collection of more than 6,000 orchids, but it is also an established authority on other epiphytes including bromeliads, gesneriads, and other plants. Highlights The stunning Tropical Conservatory eight greenhouses Towering Bamboo and Banyan Groves Cactus and Succulent Garden Bonsai Garden Cycad Collection Hibiscus Garden Tropical Fruit Garden Fern Garden Native Florida Plants Mangrove Forest Tropical Hardwood Hammock Green Roof Exhibit Trees filled with orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, and other epiphytic plants Former Christy Payne Mansion, a unique example of eclectic Southern Colonial architecture, houses ever-changing botanical art and photography exhibits as well as providing facilities for meetings and special events. The Mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places.