Savoring Marie Selby Gardens
While in Sarasota in late 2024 to revisit parks and trails along the hurricane-stricken coastline of Sarasota Bay for Hiker's Guide to the Sunshine State, we learned Marie Selby Gardens had just reopened. Almost. They'd completed a cleanup of the pathways and gardens, but their famed Tropical Conservatory, a rainforest under glass, remained closed. The Christy Payne Mansion was also closed as a new art exhibit was being moved into it.
The good news? The garden paths were open. Ticket prices discounted due to the closures. And we had gorgeous blue skies on a sunny, brisk December day. It was worth our first revisit in over a decade. Things certainly had changed since then. A complex with a parking garage, gift shop, restaurant, and welcome center now takes up a city block across from the gardens themselves.
The greenery begins upon exiting the parking garage, walking below the cascading vines of the Matson Vertical Garden. On the opposite side of the courtyard is the Welcome Center. For entrance to the main gardens, head here for tickets. A gallery space within the breezeway showcases research by the botanists of Marie Selby Gardens.
During our visit, a highlight was orchid blossoms suspended in glass jars from the gardens' collection of spirit specimens, a method of preserving flowers in fluid. Numbering 35,000 specimens, their spirit specimen collection is the second largest in the world. The adjacent Plant Research Center has restrooms and a movie theater presenting an overview of the gardens and its history.
Passing a Cascade Garden on one wall of the Welcome Center, cross a courtyard of garden spaces with clusters of seating and a city street, joining a sidewalk along the outer fence of the main gardens. Under an archway, we entered the original entrance to the Tropical Conservatory. However, a new entry was being built a little further down the sidewalk and is now where you start your journey.
Exiting past the doors to the then-closed Tropical Conservatory, our immersion began where an arbor graced with a dense collection of orchids sets a tropical tone at the start of the walk. A large map provides an overview. Straight ahead, a red archway beckoned. Beyond it is a small outdoor room featuring classic bonsai, including some unexpected species like ficus and sea grape.
The pathways sweeps through a bamboo garden and under a collection of palms along the edge of the massive glass-walled conservatory. Following the waterfront walkway north, pass many benches facing the bayfront panorama. A grassy lawn sweeps towards the waterfront, edged with trimmed mangroves. Cactus and Spanish bayonet emerge from a spill of oyster shells, a midden marking the transition to a natural mangrove shoreline. Upslope is a large event center with a view of the bay.
Tall pines and gnarled sand live oaks provide a natural canopy on the walk to the Christy Payne Mansion at the north end of the gardens. A fountain burbles in a shallow cove off the bay. A natural surface nature trail loops from the end of the paver path through the coastal mangroves and around the cove. Follow the paver path past a courtyard to the front of the mansion to explore the butterfly garden and marvel at massive bromeliads in the oaks. If the mansion is open, wander inside to see the current displays; if not, relax on a rocking chair on the porch.
Backtracking along the bayfront, we kept along it when the pathway forked. This walkway through the palm grove was edged by mangroves and sea grapes until Hurricane Milton hit. Visiting two months after, we found the shoreline strewn with beached sailboats. Once removed, the natural wall of vegetation will return. Perhaps only in place for Christmas, a cargo-net tunnel decorated with colorful leaves made for an artsy distraction.
After a break to walk by the side entrance to the Selby House, a temporary fence blocks access to the ruins of the bayfront boardwalk, which hopefully will be rebuilt. An interpretive immersion about honeybees followed. Approaching the point where Hudson Bayou meets into Sarasota Bay, wind-whipped mangroves and sea grapes were filling in again. At the very point, within sight of the wedding pavilion, one of the largest trees had to be tipped back into place and anchored after it was knocked over by a beached boat during the hurricane.
Rounding the point, the pathway passes under the canopy and among the prop roots of a banyan tree of significant size. Spiky plants rule at the Succulent Garden, protruding from its terraces. A respite from the barren desert habitat, the waterfront deck on Hudson Bayou provides a place to pause among the mangroves before a shift into hibiscus on the approach to the Children's Rainforest Garden.
Next to the Selby House, it is a relatively modern addition carefully fitted into an iconic grove of banyan trees planted in 1939. A boardwalk leads into the complex, where a waterfall cascades over a faux rock cliff. Descend into a canyon where the contents of bamboo huts and musical sculptures invite hands-on play. Return to the ramp leading upwards through the cliffs to discover small caves and a very different perspective, walking inside the canopy of the immense banyan trees.
A hut serving as a "research station" helps visitors understand how Selby's botanists do fieldwork. The very real tangle of prop roots surrounding the walkways sets a very rainforest tone; epiphytes occupy niches in the "rock" walls. A top level has swinging bridges between thatched observation towers. Descend through a garden of bromeliads back to ground level.
The original focal point of the gardens, the Selby House now contains a cafe with an overview of Marie Selby's adventuresome life. Outdoor seating faces the lawn stretching towards the point. Tucked behind the house are lush gardens with a secluded grotto where a waterfall splashes into a pond.
The new main entrance and exit adjoins the Children's Rainforest Garden, emptying onto Palm Avenue for the short walk back to the entrance gardens and Welcome Center. Across from it, the parking garage is fronted by the garden's gift shop and its upscale restaurant, The Green Orchid, which we found a delightful stop for lunch. It features fresh-grown greens and herbs from their own gardens, and is an outpost of the popular Michael’s on East in Sarasota.
Plan Your Visit
Located at 1534 Mound St, Sarasota, Marie Selby Gardens is open 10-5 daily, 10-3 on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Closed Christmas. Leashed dogs welcome; pick up after your pet. Plan for at least two hours strolling the gardens, more if you have children who'll enjoy the play features in the Children's Rainforest Garden.
To find the gardens, from Interstate 75 exit 210 in Sarasota, take Fruitville Rd east 7 miles into downtown. Turn left on US 41 and drive south 0.9 mile to Palm Ave. Look for signage pointing you to parking.
Entrance fees are $28 adults, $12 ages 5-17; members free. Membership also includes access to Historic Spanish Point, south along US 41 in Osprey.
Sandra Friend & John Keatley
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