The Entry Plaza at 19th Street and Convention Center Drive serves as the welcoming gateway to the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, immediately setting a tranquil tone. Visitors can park their bikes at the racks here, and wait for rides on the plaza benches.

The space is dominated by an enormous Silk Floss tree (Ceiba speciosa) and features Florida’s state tree, the Sabal Palm (Sabal palmetto).

Passing through the monumental gates designed by the Garden’s celebrated landscape architect Raymond Jungles, guests escape the urban bustle and enter the garden’s lush, shaded walkways.

The Bridalveil Plaza is named for its seven surrounding Bridalveil trees (Caesalpinia granadillo). These trees seamlessly blend lush tropical greenery with hardscape elements, making the space a premier destination for intimate gatherings, social events, and wedding photography.

As you relax on the nearby benches, notice how the delicate, flowing leaves mimic the elegant drape of a bridal veil. Bridalveil Plaza also serves as the Garden’s welcoming orientation point, featuring the main entry map and QR-code tour system.

Spanning roughly 5,000 square feet, the central Great Lawn provides an expansive open green space for relaxation and recreation. It is heavily utilized for public events, including corporate social gatherings, community outdoor movie nights, concerts and morning wellness or yoga classes.

The Japanese Garden features a striking, iconic red lacquered bridge crossing a quiet pond. Bamboo, ferns and Farfugium japonica grace pathways under the pink Powder Puff tree (Calliandra haematocephala).

Traditional stone pagoda lanterns accentuate the landscape, which is designed for quiet meditation. The space honors Miami Beach’s Sister City relationship with Fujisawa, Japan.

Representing one of South Florida’s most endangered ecosystems, and found nowhere else in the world, the Pine Rockland Garden displays a habitat native to the local limestone substrate. It is dominated by a single canopy tree, the Dade County Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) alongside a rugged understory of native shrubs like Wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa) that thrive in low-nutrient, high-drained sandy terrain. This habitat provides food, cover and nesting sites to a wide variety of wildlife, much of which is threatened or endangered.

The Native Garden highlights the rich biodiversity of Florida’s local flora, showcasing naturally adapted to Miami Beach’s intense heat and coastal conditions. Notably, the majestic Sabal palmetto, rare Lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum) and a collection of stoppers - including Simpson, Redberry, White and Spanish varieties – intertwine to create a shaded and peaceful sanctuary. This tranquil space invites visitors to pause, rest and observe birds and other active pollinators in their native habitat.

Here, landscape designer Raymond Jungles integrates water into the Garden as central pool, creating essential open space, magnifying the sense of scale, welcoming the sky, and reflecting the surrounding scenery. This water feature also helps cool the areas directly around the buildings.

While waterlilies and marginal plants increase botanical diversity, a cantilevered oolite fountain adds movement and the soothing sound of splashing water. Visitors can feed the champion collection of koi fish and look for the resident green heron, which is often spotted hunting from a massive Victoria lily pad.

The adjacent wetland zone features native Florida Red Mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) and Pond Apple (Annona glabra) trees. It also showcases a Salak palm (Salacca zalacca), a species exceedingly rare outside of Java and Sumatra.

Named after the distinctive native "tourist tree" with its peeling, sunburnt red bark, the Gumbo Limbo Courtyard offers a heavily shaded sanctuary and relaxing resting point for visitors. Framed by the smooth, twisted branches of the majestic Gumbo Limbo (Bursera simaruba), the courtyard also features a native Joewood (Jacquinia keyensis) dedicated to a prominent Miami Beach philanthropist. A ‘Pollinator’ planting bed, added in 2024, showcases the native Dune Sunflower (Helianthus debilis).

Designed by the legendary Art Deco and MiMo architect Morris Lapidus, the historic Peggy McKay Fountain was moved onsite during the 2011 redesign. This notable water feature showcases Lapidus’s signature whimsical, curvilinear modern style, anchoring the garden's architectural heritage with its dancing waters and mid-century aesthetic.

The fountain is surrounded predominantly by native Thatch Palms (Thrinax radiata) and adorned with a lush variety of Vanda orchids. In 2025, the groundcover was updated to soften the palm bases, incorporating native ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata) and Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

Sponsored by the Al & Jane Nahmad Family Foundation, and added to the Garden in 2025, the Gnome & Fairy Children's Garden is an enchanted interactive play space. It features whimsical installations designed to promote children’s literacy and environmental connection.

The area hosts popular seasonal activations, where children are encouraged to write physical letters to gnomes and receive handwritten responses. A Bunny hutch features 2 furry friends - you are welcome to feed them with hay, available for $1 in the Boutique.

Orchid Alley and the Living Walls emphasize vertical landscaping, displaying an immense variety of epiphytic orchids, tillandsia and hoya that grow naturally along tree branches and structured wood surfaces attached to the limestone walls.

Here, you can enjoy colorful massings of Phalaenopsis, fragrant Oncidium ‘Sharry Baby’, Tilandsia caerula and native Lady of the Night (Brassavola nodosa). Palms and trees opposite the walls showcase our Florida native Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis).

Copernicia Corner is a specialized botanical area featuring more than a dozen rare and dramatic palm species of the genus Copernicia. Endemic to the savanna regions of South America and the Caribbean, most notably Cuba, this grouping highlights structural giants known for their dense, fan-shaped fronds and unique trunks.

Visitors can view exceptional specimens including Copernicia alba, baileyana, berteroana, gigas, fallaensis, hospita, prunifolia, rigida, and yarey. Among these, Copernicia prunifolia is particularly famous for producing Carnauba wax, the hardest natural wax known to man. Secreted by and harvested from the leaves, Carnuba wax is utilized worldwide in diverse products ranging from premium car polishes and dental floss to the shiny outer coating on gummy candies.

The Banyan Lawn, like the rest of the Garden’s grassy areas, is covered in Empire Zoysia (Zoysia japonica), a highly durable and luxurious green turf maintained by the Garden’s own horticultural team. The lawn is bordered by a massive, sprawling Ficus benjamina, designated as a "Florida Champion" for being the largest recorded specimen of its kind in the state. Seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera), a pair of Oil Palms (Elaeis guineensis), and Brazilian Fire (Schizolobium parahyba) complement the vibrant display. 

Thanks to a lush understory of native Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Blue Porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis), this area is also a major hotspot for butterflies. 

Situated adjacent to the indoor Banyan Ballroom and its covered terrace, the Banyan Lawn serves as an elegant outdoor venue for natural gatherings, weddings, and sunset celebrations.