Pinecrest Gardens is home to an array of native and exotic plants, all part of the Gardens’ living collection. A living collection is an organized and intentional grouping of living specimens with detailed records that support the identification and sourcing of the specimens. Found across the world, living collections serve as a stronghold for education and conservation, and horticultural research purposes. As information is stored and shared between Botanical gardens, a better understanding of plant success and population strength can be identified and interpreted for plant management, policy implementation and botanical curation. South Florida is home to many Botanical Gardens, as the warm and tropical climate holds opportunity for growing a wide variety of plants.
Pinecrest Gardens is dedicated to improving our living collections for purposes of understanding and appreciating the horticultural significance of South Florida. By preserving botanical information, the Gardens can develop and manage the landscape for an exceptional visitor experience. For a collection to be recognized, certain qualifications must be met. Pinecrest Gardens has Level II Accreditation by the Arboretum Accreditation Program and is currently working to establish a Garden Croton, Codiaeum variegatum, collection. More than 240 specimens have been accessioned, with over 50 Garden Croton varieties identified on the campus.
The living collections program at Pinecrest Gardens involves a skilled team made up of the Curator of Landscapes and Living Collections, Horticultural Specialists, and the Collections and Education Specialist. As plants are curated at the Gardens, they are given a distinct accession number. This number can be used to locate and identify all given information for each individual plant, down to its’ known origin. Currently, the growing database contains over 1,500 records of living specimens, some dating back to the days of Parrot Jungle, with over 600 different Taxa.