Smithsonian Gardens creates and cares for horticulture displays throughout the interior spaces of the Smithsonian museums. Displays range from individual plant specimens to spacious gardens. The displays help to highlight museum exhibits, define spaces, and provide a pleasant experience for visitors. Plants in the displays are selected for cultural appropriateness and educational value. Staff at the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouse Facility maintains the display plants and ensures they are acclimatized to flourish in interior environments.

The Garden Lounge at the National Museum of Natural History

The Garden Lounge at the National Museum of Natural History serves as a welcoming rest and recharge area for visitors on the second floor of the museum. The lounge features live plants and a tranquil atmosphere with bright sunlight, seating and USB outlets. The educational material in the space allows visitors to explore the history and diversity of plant life as well as how plants disperse and grow. Featured plants in this horticulture display include cycads, ferns, bromeliads, and orchids.

Orchid Cases at the National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History is home to five plant specimen display cases featuring orchids from the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection and orchid greenhouses. Plants are regularly replaced with fresh and unusual varieties from our greenhouses to highlight the diversity of this growing collection.

Holiday Displays

Each year, Smithsonian Gardens’ staff designs and installs holiday decorations for the Smithsonian museums. Displays feature seasonal flowering plants, decorated evergreen trees, wreaths, garlands, everlasting floral arrangements, and winter interest plant material. The thousands of poinsettias used in holiday displays throughout the Smithsonian museums each year are selected and grown by horticulturists at the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouse Facility.

Interiorscape at the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard

Located inside the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in downtown Washington, D.C., the glass-ceilinged Kogod Courtyard provides a beautiful indoor garden space filled with natural light. Black olive trees anchor the space and plantings in the courtyard’s beds are refreshed seasonally to feature a wide array of tropical and flowering plants.