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Join us for our annual holiday show featuring model trains in the gated outdoor gardens, festive lights throughout the Garden, and the poinsettias, holiday decor, and D.C. landmarks made from plants inside the Conservatory. G-gauge model trains circulate through displays of pollinators made from plant parts, ranging from oversized models of native U.S. flowers like milkweed and bats pollinating a banana to an orchid bee pollinating a vanilla orchid flower, a chocolate midge pollinating a cacao flower, a lemur pollinating a traveler’s tree flower, and more!

The advent of book publishing ushered in an exuberant age of plant exploration and discovery. Plants in Print: The Age of Botanical Discovery, a collaboration between the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Chicago Botanic Garden, shares the rich history of botany and plant exploration with a nationwide audience.

The U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) offered a garden-wide “Season’s Greenings” holiday display in 2022, running from Thursday, Nov. 24, through Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, closed Dec. 25. As part of the festivities, G-gauge model trains ran between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day in the gated outdoor gardens and the Conservatory featured poinsettias, holiday decor, and D.C. landmarks made from plants.

“Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women” unearths stories of women who have enriched our understanding and appreciation of orchids. Despite their remarkable achievements in art, botanical illustration, orchid cultivation and scientific discovery, many of the featured women have not received the recognition they deserve. “Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women” highlights these unsung horticultural heroines and solidifies their ongoing influence on orchid collections. Visitors can see the exhibit and its accompanying orchid display at the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, shared by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. This exhibit is a collaboration between U.S. Botanic Garden and Smithsonian Gardens.

Titan Arum: Amorphophallus titanum is known as the titan arum, or corpse flower, because at full bloom, the inflorescence is said to smell like a large rotting corpse. The U.S. Botanic Garden has displayed these amazing blooming plants in 2003, 2005 and 2007, 2013, and 2016.

This winter, explore the fabulous world of orchids at the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG)! This year’s joint orchid show celebrates the diversity of orchids found throughout the world. One of the largest plant families in the world, orchid shapes, sizes, colors, scents, and more vary greatly! Throughout the Conservatory, thousands of orchid blooms will showcase the USBG and Smithsonian Gardens’ extensive orchid collections. Join us to celebrate these fantastic flowers!

Our popular annual holiday display “Season’s Greenings” features model trains in the gated outdoor gardens, festive lights throughout the Garden, thousands of poinsettias, holiday decor, and D.C. landmarks made from plants inside the Conservatory. On the lawn in the gated outdoor gardens, G-gauge model trains circulate from 10:00-5:00 daily through displays of pollinators made from plant parts. These scenes range from oversized models of native U.S. flowers like milkweed to an orchid bee pollinating a vanilla orchid flower, a chocolate midge pollinating a cacao flower, a lemur pollinating a traveler’s tree flower, and more! The Garden will be closed on December 25.

The United States Botanic Garden in collaboration with the American Society of Botanical Artists presents a juried exhibition of American native plant botanical artworks. The exhibit, on display in the West Gallery of the U.S. Botanic Garden, features 46 pieces depicting a diverse range of plants including trees, cacti, wildflowers, and more. These artworks were selected from a field of over 200 entries. Similar exhibitions will be held in 24 other countries, each highlighting plants native to their own country.

For 200 years, the Garden has shared the beauty and usefulness of plants with the world. Join us on a journey of plant exploration, and challenge yourself with plant science interactives, three-dimensional sights, infamous smells, and more! Learn more about the rich history and developing future of the USBG in this two-part exhibit.

The U.S. Botanic Garden featured an outdoor holiday display in 2021 with festive adornments, lighted trees and shrubs, and an outdoor train display throughout the outdoor gardens.

The world of horticulture is for everyone -- those with green thumbs and those green with envy. Growing and caring for plants might seem daunting, but this exhibit will help experienced and novice gardeners alike have more fruitful indoor and outdoor gardening experiences. Wander the exhibit gallery and outdoor gardens to explore the basics of growing plants and investigate solutions for many common plant problems. Along the way, discover foolproof plants, learn about the right plant for the right place and person, and even pick up a few specialty horticulture techniques for plants requiring a little extra care. Whatever your skill level, You Can Grow It has something for you!

Orchids captivate and enthrall people around the world. They also captivate and lure pollinators – sometimes through fascinating, beautiful deceit! Join us as we showcase some of the unique, bizarre, and intriguing orchid adaptations that deceive pollinators looking for food, mates, locations to lay their eggs, and more. Explore thousands of orchids in this 29th annual joint orchid exhibit between the U.S. Botanic Garden and Smithsonian Gardens.

Most plants are relatively harmless, but beware some of the unique survival features plants have evolved to defend themselves against herbivores, infection, and plant competitors! Explore this new multisensory exhibit that shares the ferocious side of the bright and beautiful plant world. Plants have engaged in a millennia-long evolutionary struggle with their animal and plant competitors, and some people can experience negative consequences from touching, consuming, or, in rare cases, sitting beneath them. But some of the chemicals that cause harm can also be used for human good: more than half of pharmaceutical drugs are originally derived from plants. It’s a plant’s world; we are just living in it!

Smithsonian Gardens and the United States Botanic Garden will present “The Future of Orchids: Conservation and Collaboration” from Jan. 27 through April 28, 2024, filling the entire Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery with around 350 live orchids. The display will feature a series of newly commissioned and loaned works by contemporary multimedia artist, Phaan Howng, to help audiences visualize the future of orchids and be inspired to take action toward a sustainable future.

This year, explore America by train as our annual holiday show Season's Greenings showcases historic railroad stations across the country. In our model train show, trains chug around, below, through, and above plant-based recreations of iconic depots from across the United States. View thousands of blooms throughout the Conservatory, including a showcase of heirloom and newly developed poinsettia varieties. Join us as we celebrate the holidays and America's natural and cultural treasures.

Come explore the fabulous world of orchids! In celebration of the U.S. Botanic Garden’s bicentennial year, our orchid show celebrates plant exploration and the diversity of orchids found throughout the world.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, this art exhibit showcases some of the plant species and communities found throughout the more than 400 national park sites.

Plant roots are vital components of the earth’s ecosystem. They are necessary for plant growth, including the production of food and nutrients for humans and many other organisms. However, as root systems are out of sight, their beauty and importance often go unnoticed. This exhibit used the work of agricultural ecologist Dr. Jerry Glover, sculptor Steve Tobin, and photographer Jim Richardson to showcase the importance of roots through visually stunning root representations.

Stop and take a look at the murals covering our city walls and you’ll notice plants are often featured. Plants in murals communicate the aesthetic, ecological, and historic importance of plants in the urban environment. This exhibit features large-scale art by local artists who specialize in public murals that beautify our cities. Their murals depict plants using bold colors and monumental scale. The exhibit fosters creative conversations about botanical art and new ways to communicate the important roles plants play in our lives.

Savage Gardens provided a special look into the captivating, and bizarre, world of carnivorous plants and their astounding adaptations to inhospitable habitats. Hungry for more? Don't miss the time lapse video of a sundew trapping a fruit fly.