Naples Botanical Garden

Altars honoring loved ones are among the most personal displays at Naples Botanical Garden's weekend festival.

The Naples Botanical Garden maintains the region’s only conservation seed bank. It contains more than 1 million seeds from 168 species of native Florida and Caribbean plants threatened by rising sea levels, habitat loss and other stressors. To draw attention to this “Hidden Wonder,” the garden has invited Miami-based ceramic sculptor and installation artist Lauren Shapiro to create an exhibition. “What Is Gathered Remains” opens Jan. 23 but guests can help create glass tiles for the exhibition at community workshops on Nov. 14 and 15.

Naples Botanical Garden conducted a prescribed fire Monday on approximately two acres of their Preserve area.

Naples Botanical Garden is conducting a prescribed fire on approximately 2 acres in the facility's preserve, beginning late Tuesday morning and lasting several hours. Fire-certified garden staff will monitor the area into the evening and the following days to ensure no hot spots go undetected.

The $115.5 billion budget signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis includes more than $18 million for 184 arts organizations. Most Southwest Florida arts and culture organizations remain on the outside looking in.

Southwest Florida residents get free admission to the Naples Botanical Garden during a week in June.

Naples Botanical Garden will conduct a prescribed fire on 8.5 acres in the property’s Preserve, south of the Evenstad Horticulture Campus, for several hours today.Carefully controlled fires like this one are an important public safety precaution because they reduce organic matter, such as pine needles and fallen leaves, that can fuel wildfires.

The Musical Swings at the Naples Botanical Garden play notes from four different instruments as visitors swing. When the swings move in unison, they create a musical composition. The installation, originally slated to end April 20 has been extended until May 27.

Studies of Southwest Florida's shorelines — from Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park to Naples Beach — helps in understanding coastal ecosystems and how dunes protect the coast from wind and water damage. Long-term observations have yielded novel insights into the kinds of plants that anchor local dunes, the roles they play in collecting and holding sand, and how they respond to storms and regenerate in their aftermath.

With no history of fire on a Naples Botanical Garden parcel for at least the past 40 years, a tremendous volume of natural debris, such as pine needles, considered fuel for fire, had accumulated. That fuel load created a fire risk — keep in mind that the Garden is sandwiched between residential developments.A prescribed fire Tuesday helped lessen that fuel load.