Montgomery Botanical Center, Scientific botanical garden in Coral Gables, Florida, United States.
The Montgomery Botanical Center is a 120-acre nonprofit research garden at 11901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, Florida, on the former site of Robert and Nell Montgomery's Coconut Grove Palmetum estate. Its grounds are divided into the Coconut Grove Palmetum, South Palmetum, Lowland Palmetum and a Research area holding laboratories, the Montgomery Library, a herbarium and nurseries. Eight acres are leased to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden for its nursery facilities.
Robert Montgomery began assembling an international palm collection starting in 1932, which his wife Nell Montgomery Jennings later formalized as a scientific institution in the late 1950s. This transition from private collection to research center established the site as a place for public education and botanical study.
The garden's name honors Robert Hiester Montgomery, co-founder of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and its grounds were once his and Nell Montgomery Jennings's estate, the Coconut Grove Palmetum. Nell established the center in 1959 as a living memorial to her husband. The site is not generally open to the public; individuals and groups can arrange guided tours by reservation.
The center is a research facility, not generally open to the public; entry is by reservation for guided tours for individuals or groups. It sits at 11901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, and the grounds are divided into the Coconut Grove, South and Lowland Palmetums plus a Research area. Ask about access when booking.
In 2018 executive director Patrick Griffith reported that the garden's palms had tolerated saltwater better than expected, and also that about a third of the 120-acre property could be underwater within a century as the sea rises. The site lies on Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, a few miles from the coast.
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