Public Gardens

United States

California

Strybing Arboretum at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Gesneriads growing outdoors in natural settings.

Sherman Library & Gardens, Corona del Mar
A small horticultural retreat with a museum of living plants, including gesneriads.

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Unidentified aeschynanthus at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
The gardens cover 120 acres, with more than a dozen specialized gardens arranged within a park-like landscape of rolling lawns, including a conservatory with gesneriad specimens.

Connecticut

University of Connecticut EEB Greenhouses, Storrs
This facility is primarily arranged taxonomically so most of the gesneriads are conveniently located on one bench. More details can be found at the website.

Florida

Palm Hammock Orchid Estate, formerly The Daisy Farm, Miami
A pretty good assortment of some of the Caribbean species and the better tropical garden cultivars on display during their times of bloom.

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Columnea at The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota
This tropical garden has dozens of genera and over 200 species in their research collection with many gesneriads featured the public display house.

Georgia

Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Atlanta
Many gesneriads displayed in the Fuqua Conservatory as well as in the orchid display house, high altitude house and in the outdoor gardens.

Illinois

Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe
They have a few gesneriads in several of their tropical conservatories. The gardens as a whole are definitely worth a visit.

Iowa

Des Moines Botanical Center, Des Moines
5 genera, 5 species.

Maryland

National Aquarium, Baltimore
The display is designed to display birds more than plants, but there are gesneriads present in the exhibit.

Michigan

University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden, Ann Arbor
An excellent gesneriad collection. In addition to several beds in the conservatory, impressive baskets of vining gesneriads can be found scattered throughout the conservatory.

Missouri

Missouri Botanic Gardens (Shaw Gardens), St. Louis
Gesneriads displayed in the Climatron.

New York

K 'Silver Feather'

Kohleria ‘Silver Feather’ at Planting Fields Arboretum

Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay
Extensive collection of gesneriads and other tropical plants.

North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Garden, Charlotte
24 genera, 70 species.

Pennsylvania

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square
The garden displays gesneriads on occasion. Everything there is so beautiful that its worth the trip in any case!

PHS Meadowbrook Farms, Jenkintown
Garden displays gesneriads in the conservatory of their historic house, as well as in outdoor summer containers. Retail greenhouses include a small selection of gesneriads for sale.  Spring, fall, and winter open houses are held where the Liberty Bell Gesneriad Society and other local plant societies set up tables to share their love of plants and recruit new members.

Tennessee

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, Nashville
Collections from Central American cloud forests.

Washington, DC

United States Botanic Garden, on The Mall
15 genera, 20 species.

Wisconsin

Olbrich Gardens, Madison
A number of gesneriads growing in their tropical rainforest habitat. A truly impressive colony of Gesneria cuneifolia, a couple of the different cultivars of same. Also a number of episcias as ground covers, codonanthes, and a nematanthus. Most things are well labeled. Several other tropical plant families are also well represented.

Canada

Jardin Botanique de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec
45 genera, 250 species
This is a place with a rich collection of gesneriads in the research greenhouses, but also with a good display in the public area.

England

Kew Gardens, London
Kew has nematanthus, saintpaulias, episcias, paliavanas, gloxinias, streptocarpus, and aeschynanthus (and probably more) displayed in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. Also petrocosmeas in the cloud forest compartment. Ramondas and haberleas are planted out around the alpine house and cooler growers are in the refrigerated bed inside including lysionotus and petrocosmeas. There is a large clump of Hemiboea henryi and several shrubs of mitraria and seasonal displays of achimenes hybrids in the greenhouse beds.

France

Jardin des Plantes, Paris
The “jardin alpin” has five species of Ramonda and Haberlea, hybridizing freely in spite of the gardeners’ efforts.

Germany

University of Potsdam Botanical Garden, Potsdam
This garden has a varied collection of gesneriads.

Scotland

Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
RBG/Edinburgh has probably the largest colony of Fieldia australis anywhere. It’s planted in a conservatory bed and it runs all over as groundcover and then climbs the trees and flowers! Many, many  species of Streptocarpus are planted in natural settings in the conservatory. The rock garden is outstanding, with cabbage-size ramondas and haberleas planted in low rock walls.

Sweden

Gothenburg Botanical Garden, Gothenburg
This garden usually has some interesting gesneriads although that is not their focus. The grounds and the rock garden are worth a visit.

The Botanical Garden of Uppsala, Uppsala
This garden is Sweden’s oldest botanical garden. There you will find an old and important collection of  species Saintpaulia, in addition to many other gesneriads.

Switzerland

Conservatory and Botanical Garden, Geneva

Established back in 1817, on about 30 hectares of prime land, it is considered one of the finest botanical gardens in Switzerland. This amazingly tranquil garden, free for public use, is a short (100-200 metre) downhill walk from the United Nations building. It contains an extensive gesneriad research collection with many varieties on public display in the conservatories.

The Netherlands

Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam
This is a wonderful garden, with a series of conservatories surrounded by outdoor gardens and walking paths, in the middle of Amsterdam. This botanical garden has over 6000 different species (among all plant families), including particularly good collections of cacti and succulents, orchids, and native European plants. Open every day (except Christmas and New Year’s Day) from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.


Have you seen gesneriads displayed at public gardens? Tell us about it! 

Keep This List Growing

Do you know of a public garden near you that has gesneriads on display? If so, let us know and we will publish the information on this page.

Contact the Webmaster with information – name of garden, specific location of gesneriads, number and genera names of gesneriads on display.