The natural landscape of Florida is a wild and untamed one, even in the neatly manicured gardens found at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Downtown Sarasota Campus. Offering over 15 acres of flowers, plants, ponds, and the occasional waterfall, the garden landscape somehow maintains its independence while resisting futile efforts to whip it in shape, but that’s ok. The wild beauty, the fragrant freedom, and its insistent self determination to do its own thing makes it one of the most popular spots for visitors to explore! And because we at RentTheKeys love a quiet walk through enchanted gardens, we have added it to our list of Sarasota wonders to explore during your stay in our Florida escapes.
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are Located at 1534 Mound Street
There are actually two locations for the Marie Selby Gardens: the Sarasota Campus, which we will be talking about today, and the Spanish Point one that shall be explored further later. The Downtown Sarasota Campus is a more compact example of the plant life in our tropical paradise, located on Sarasota Bay. It is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to displaying and studying a variety of tropical plants, including the leggy beauty that we all know as an orchid. Open every day of the year except on Christmas Day, throughout the year they offer special events which celebrate the beauty of the gardens while paying homage to holidays, family, and food and/or wine. The downtown campus is the original gardens, founded in 1973 when a local resident, Marie Selby, bequeathed her home to the city she loved, and the rest is history. Offering walks through banyan groves that Marie and her husband planted nearly 100 years ago, it is hard to feel anything but peace and serenity while you explore the beauty of the plants and trees that our favorite benefactor was so passionate about. And perhaps, as you examine a living register of flora that dates back thousands of years, the love she felt about every seed, every bud, every bloom, will become your love, enticing you to plan a visit to the Spanish Point gardens we mentioned earlier!
Our Gardens Won’t Be As Elaborate
No, the gardens of our homes and communities will never match up to the magic offered by Marie Selby, but the peace and serenity found within will easily match that which you discovered in the gardens! Reserve your favorite escape with us today.
