This Winter at Selby Gardens, the Lights Are On and the Collection Is Away

South Palm Avenue ends on a lane of old Augusta Block brick that turns off Mound Street and runs into Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. During the first phase of construction, crews pulled up those pavers, stored them and put them back. Jerry Sparkman of Sweet Sparkman Architecture, one of the Phase Two designers, told Your Observer that the master plan always meant for the new conservatory to sit at that southern end of Palm Avenue: "It's like the city ends in the gardens."

The conservatory is now being built behind a fence. The plants it will hold are not on campus. In the same report, Selby president and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki said the research collection, about 20,000 specimens, has been moved to an undisclosed location for the length of construction. So for the next two winters, the Selby a West of Trail neighbor can walk into is the one outdoors: the gardens, the bayfront, the existing Display Conservatory and, starting Dec. 5, more than two million lights.

What went behind the fence, and for how long

Phase Two broke ground on Dec. 2, 2025. In an Aug. 11, 2026 announcement, Selby said permitting was finished and vertical construction had started on three pieces: a Conservatory Complex, a Learning Pavilion and new landscape features. Phase Two is scheduled to open in November 2028. Sarasota Magazine reported that the new pavilion and gardens fill "the footprint of the old glass house structures," which the CEO said "will come down."

The funding is nearly all in place. As of that August announcement, Selby had raised $59.7 million of a $60.9 million Phase Two goal, or 98 percent. It had also closed a $41.9 million bond sale in July to keep construction moving while multiyear pledges come in. According to Selby, the bond offering drew orders from 15 investors totaling about 10 times the amount offered.

The conservatory is meant to change what visitors can see. Selby's prior display space could show only about 5 percent of its living research collection, which it describes as the world's best scientifically documented collection of orchids and bromeliads. The new Conservatory Complex is designed to put nearly all of it on public view. The building uses what Selby calls the Selby System, a hurricane-resilient greenhouse design with polycarbonate glazing. Selby says the design passed full-scale testing under simulated extreme hurricane conditions in 2026.

What stays open, in Selby's own words

Rominiecki described the setup in August, and she said it would not change:

"We have our welcome center. We have our restaurant. All of our amenities are open and the Phase 2 footprint for construction is fenced off and the rest of the gardens are open. The way it is today is the way it will be throughout construction."

That quote ran in Your Observer. The same article said Phase Two should be less disruptive than Phase One. That earlier phase, finished in January 2024, took place mostly at the entrance and added the parking structure and restaurant on Mound Street, the welcome center and the Steinwachs Family Plant Research Center.

Daytime admission to the Downtown campus covers the gardens, the Children's Rainforest Garden and the Museum of Botany & the Arts, which is housed in the historic Payne Mansion. It also includes access to the two places to eat. Selby House Café is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Green Orchid by Michael's On East, which sits in the Morganroth Family LEAF garage building, is open daily for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Daytime parking inside the LEAF is free, with entrances from Mound Street and South Orange Avenue. There are bike racks near the Welcome Center.

The orchids that are still here

With most of the collection in storage, the Orchid Show is the main place to see Selby's plants indoors this fall. The Orchid Show 2026: Christian Sampson runs through Dec. 6. It puts artwork in the Museum of Botany & the Arts and pieces through the gardens and the Display Conservatory, with living orchids on display in the conservatory.

Lights in Bloom opens on Dec. 5, so the two overlap for one weekend, Dec. 5 and 6. On those two days you can see the orchid show in daylight and come back in the evening for the lights. After that, the next exhibition is the 2027 Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition, Verdi: Composer and Farmer, from Feb. 7 to May 30, 2027. It will fill the museum, the Display Conservatory and the gardens.

Lights in Bloom, night by night

The campus is mostly outdoors right now, and the season's biggest event happens outdoors after dark. Lights in Bloom runs from Dec. 5, 2026 through Jan. 2, 2027. It is open every night except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. The visitor details:

• Early Entry, 5:30 p.m.: $39 for member adults, $44 for nonmember adults, $24 for ages 5 to 17, free for ages 4 and under.
• General Entry, 6:30 p.m.: $29 for member adults, $34 for nonmember adults, $19 for ages 5 to 17, free for ages 4 and under.
• All-Inclusive, Dec. 12 only: $225 for adults and $75 for ages 5 to 17. It includes early entry, on-site parking, a buffet dinner and an open bar in the Event Center.
• Last entry: 8 p.m. The event closes at 9 p.m.

Members get member pricing by logging into their Selby account before they buy. Only tickets bought on Selby's website or at the Welcome Center are valid. All sales are final and tickets can't be transferred. Selby strongly encourages buying in advance and says walk-up admission isn't guaranteed. The event goes on rain or shine. If hazardous weather cancels a night, ticket holders get an email by 3 p.m.

Michael's On East runs a food tent, and the other vendors are Purple Belle Ice Cream, Five-O Donuts, Reform Coffee and Uncle Dave's Popcorn. The Green Orchid stays open for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. on event nights. Reservations are at 941-265-8194.

Getting there from the Trail side

Parking is harder at night than during the day. During Lights in Bloom, on-site parking in the LEAF is limited to pre-purchased vouchers while they last, and the garage is open to event guests from 5 to 9 p.m. Selby's free alternative starts on the West of Trail side of U.S. 41:

1. Park free at Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, on Dec. 5 to 11, Dec. 13 to 23, Dec. 26 to 30 and Jan. 1 to 2.
2. On Dec. 12 only, the free lot moves to Senior Friendship Center, 1888 Brother Geenen Way.
3. Trolleys run between the lot and the Downtown campus from 5 to 9:15 p.m., which covers the last entry at 8 p.m. and the 9 p.m. close.

Selby also lists on-street parking and parking lots within a short walk of the campus. On Dec. 12, the All-Inclusive ticket includes on-site parking, and the free trolley lot is the one on Brother Geenen Way.

The rest of the season on the bayfront

The campus calendar after the lights is built around evening events held in the open parts of the grounds. Selby's 2026–2027 season announcement lists these Downtown dates:

The gala falls on Dec. 31, one of the three nights Lights in Bloom is closed to the public. Selby's other site has an event before then: Cocktails at the Cottage on Nov. 19 at Historic Spanish Point, not at the Downtown campus.

Phase Two will also add a live oak grove, a stone garden and improved walkways next to the conservatory. Until it opens in November 2028, Selby's season runs on the gardens that stayed open, the Display Conservatory and evening events like Lights in Bloom.

Selby is one of the main reasons people want to live in the blocks around Palm Avenue, Mound Street and Hudson Bayou. Two more winters of construction will change how the campus works before the conservatory opens. If you're weighing a home within walking or trolley distance of the gardens, or wondering how a Phase Two opening in 2028 could matter for a property you already own nearby, Monica Verinder can walk you through these streets block by block. Schedule Your Private Consultation.