United States Botanic Garden

About

The United States Botanic Garden, established in 1820, is among the oldest operating botanical gardens in North America and serves as a living museum of plant life for the nation. Located at the foot of the US Capitol, it occupies a conservatory building and surrounding outdoor gardens that together house thousands of plant species from tropical, subtropical, Mediterranean, desert, and temperate regions of the world. The Conservatory is organized into interconnected environments — a jungle-like tropical zone, a desert house, an orchid collection, a medicinal plants garden, and a children's garden designed specifically to engage younger visitors with the science and wonder of plants. Seasonal displays throughout the year draw on the garden's living collections and include one of the most visited holiday plant displays in Washington, DC. Outdoor gardens extend around Bartholdi Fountain and focus on mid-Atlantic native plants, drought-tolerant species, and plants of national symbolic importance. All of this is accessible for free, every day of the year, making it one of the most quietly extraordinary learning resources on the Mall. For families and homeschoolers, the garden offers rich entry points into botany, ecology, world geography, and the science of plant adaptations. Educational programming for school groups supplements the self-guided experience.

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