Gardens Week!

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]My name is Michael Hitchcock. I'm the zoo [music] botanical garden curator.

[00:00:05]In 2023 we got the accreditation to be [music] an official botanical garden and that was through the American public gardens Association [music] and ArbNet. By getting the accreditation for Zoo Miami, we are now rated in the top [music] 10 in the world of zoos and botanical gardens. We have which actually surrounds the zoo are the Florida slash pine which is down in South Florida is [music] considered endangered because there's very few pockets left. So just to give you an example of what surrounds [music] the zoo is here's your pine Rockland. We'll see the various plants understory the saw palmetto. There's quite a few different plants but we try to maintain what's are in our property and we [music] also did some additional planting at the front entrance. So when you come in you'll see three new beds the pine Rockland to kind of show you a close-up where you can't really see what surrounds the zoo. And then here this shows you what the pine Rockland forest kind of looks like. Probably my most favorite tree I have quite a few cuz I'm biased of course is the rainbow eucalyptus.

[00:01:14]It has the multi-colored. It grows very fast probably not something you want to use in your yard but [music] it's one of my favorite trees and we have it here in the Australia loop when you come this way.