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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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Come immerse yourself in our annual orchid show, presented in collaboration with Smithsonian Gardens. Found on every continent except Antarctica, orchids showcase a wide spectrum of diversity in color, shape, size, habitat, scent, and many other aspects. Visit the USBG Conservatory to explore thousands of amazing orchid blooms arranged in captivating displays, and appreciate many unique, rarely seen orchids from the USBG’s and Smithsonian Gardens’ extensive plant collections.

Did you know that coleus, sage, and rosemary are all in the mint family (Lamiaceae)? This plant family contains many culinary herbs. This plant family contains many culinary herbs. Mint family members are usually aromatic, have square stems, and opposite leaves. Most people know about Mentha (peppermint and spearmint) and Salvia (sage) species, but there are over 230 genera and more than 7,000 species in the mint family. Come explore this beautiful exhibit to learn about the interesting plants in this unique family. This exhibit was on display in the Conservatory's South Lobby.

Orchids in Focus (February - April 2016) was the 2016 joint USBG-Smithsonian Gardens annual orchid exhibit. Orchids in Focus showcased how these exotic beauties have inspired artists and photographers for centuries and allowed visitors to immerse themselves in a floral paradise of orchids from the forest canopy down to the ground, and focus their own camera on these unique and beautiful plants.

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.

Join us to explore botanic gardens from Hawaii to Maine in this year’s Season’s Greenings holiday show! Plant based recreations of conservatories, fountains, and sculptures will fill the model train room.These will include iconic gardens scenes like Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s vibrant red Japanese torii gate, Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ flamingo topiaries, Missouri Botanical Garden’s famous Climatron conservatory, and Huntsville Botanical Garden’s Rocket Gardenfeaturing NASA space nodes and rockets! The Conservatory will be filledwith thousands of flowers, including a showcase of heirloom and newly developed poinsettia varieties. Our collection of D.C. landmarks made from plant materials will return to fill the Garden Court, and the West Gallery will feature a decorated tree with its own model train. Join us as we celebrate the holidays and America’s beautiful and diverse public gardens.

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.

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.