There are no “plug and play” programs at your Garden. Instead, every tour, drop-in session, field trip, and special offering is created by staff to interpret our collections and illuminate the unique, natural wonders of Southwest Florida and beyond. Many hours—and many minds—go into the making of a Garden program. Here’s one example of how we do it.
We start with curiosity.
What kind of palm is this? Are palm trees really trees? Is this plant with the fronds a palm? How many kinds of palm trees are there in Florida?
Photos by John Eder
Although we could talk plants all day long, we show some restraint. We limit our tours to 30 – 45 minutes and a half mile. For the Palms & Cycads tour, we distilled our plant selections to eight specific specimens out of more than a thousand palms and cycads on display. We look for plants that are easy to spot from Garden paths and for botanical stars with interesting stories to tell—like the Tahina palm (Tahina spectabilis) and Hope’s cycad (Lepidozamia hopei). We consider a theme, or throughline, for the tour. In this case, we focus on the intrinsic value of palms and cycads to their native ecosystems and how their presence in the Garden demonstrates conservation in action.
Photo by Donald Davesne
Mapping what’s next
We now map a route that starts at the Smith Entry Prow. For the Palms & Cycads tour, the route ends in the Kapnick Caribbean Garden, home of the Ware Palm Collection. There, we share the story of the Carossier palm (Attalea crassispatha), planted as part of a partnership with Jardin Botanique des Cayes in Haiti. The Garden ensures the survival of this critically endangered species’s genetics in our living collections.
Data-driven drafting
Next, we reach out to Curator of Records Sandra Rigotti-Santos. She manages millions of data points about our collections and can offer all sorts of numeric talking points.
Did you know we have 630 individual cycads—from seedlings to mature plants? Or that our palm collection now tops 3,500 palms in our nurseries, sourced from across the tropical world? See approximately 1,500 of these palms throughout the Garden.
With our plant list in hand, we research each species, looking for nuggets of information that might instigate an “a-ha” moment. We document everything because we want to make sure our information is verified. Our bibliography contains more than 1,600 sources. Draft. Review. Revise. Second draft, third draft … Each tour and program goes before many eyes and many red pens. For tours, we’re looking for the most logical path, ensuring selected plants are the best fit for storytelling, and double checking all the information. Facts need to have a reason for inclusion—they must move the story forward.
Rehearsal time
We write tours to be flexible because the Garden changes throughout the year. We include a wealth of details so that educators can follow their interests—and those of tour goers—while still adhering to the tour’s theme and goals. Walking the path and running the script help us note all options.
All our educators are certified interpretive guides through the National Association for Interpretation. Think of them as professional storytellers.
Your turn
From guided daily tours to air-conditioned tram tours to specialty tours—such as the Palms & Cycads tour—there’s a Garden tour for all interests and ages. Visit our Tour Options page to plan your next trip to the Garden and then meet us at Smith Entry Prow to begin your botanical adventure.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Cultivate, the Garden’s magazine.
Special thanks to our Garden Education & Visitor Experience Staff for this article.
