The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis operates one of the largest and fastest growing herbaria in the world, and the second largest in the western hemisphere. With the addition of a specimen of Anthurium centimillesimum, a gigantic new aroid species from Ecuador, the Garden's permanent collection of pressed and dried plant specimens has reached a milestone of six million specimens.

Highlights Catalog is featuring a new and exciting educational product from the TickleMe Plant Company. TickleMe Plants™ move their branches down and close their leaves when tickled.

Plant aficionados, wagons in tow, will be first in line for A Bloomin’ Sale, the Midwest’s premier plant sale, which returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. The Woman’s Board of the Chicago Horticultural Society planned this 42nd annual sale with the theme "Success with the Best." More than 30,000 plants in 900 varieties will be available, including many that are hard to find, easy to grow and reliably hardy.

The Model Railroad Garden: “Landmarks of America” opens for its ninth season at the Chicago Botanic Garden on Saturday, May 10 with new landmarks in Seattle, the Pacific Northwest and San Francisco, including Telegraph Hill. A family favorite, this enchanting outdoor exhibition takes visitors from coast to coast with model trains, miniature representations of America’s best-loved landmarks, and colorful small-scale gardens.

Kew Gardens is leaping into 2008 with the biggest display of spring flowers in the country. Over 5 million flowering bulbs will melt away the winter and carpet the beautiful open spaces of Kew with a riot of colour. Two million blue, white and mauve crocuses (Crocus vernus) will greet visitors as they enter the grand Victoria Gate entrance of the Gardens.

The Young Collectors Committee of the Antiques & Garden Fair gathered recently at the home of Cathy and Michael Busch in Winnetka to view their home and meet its interior designer, Ruthie Sommers. Sommers has been named one of the "Top 25 New Designers" in America by House Beautiful and she ranks among House & Garden's top five in "Best of Design."

Exhibition and sale of original botanical paintings and drawings
Good Friday to Easter Monday, March 21-24

The annual Artists & Artisans Festival showcases the work of more than 20 American artists in metal, painting, photography, jewelry, pottery and more. Find unique items such as bird houses made from mesquite, sculptured metal flowers and handmade stoneware.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden announces Hanami, the Cherry Blossom-Viewing Season, April 5–May 4, 2008. Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry's flowering season—from the first buds, to the luminous blossoms, to the waterfall of petals cascading from the trees. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Hanami includes a series of seasonal events that pay tribute to the Garden's iconic collection of Japanese flowering cherry trees.

It will soon be time for those bluebonnet photos, and one of the best places to take them is at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, in Austin TX during the 2008 Wildflower DaysTM. Between March 10 and April 30, the center is open every day, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Look for meadows and gardens abloom with Indian paintbrush, winecups, evening primroses, giant spiderworts, Blackfoot daisies and Drummond phlox as well as the Texas state flower.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is counting down to its second annual Lunar New Year Celebration and Flower Market on Sunday, February 3, 2008. Because plants are such an important element of a traditional Lunar New Year celebration, the Garden is the ideal setting to welcome 4705.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's extraordinary winter landscape beckons visitors with the hushed beauty of the season, including the sculpted architecture of the plants and landscapes in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and the Osborne Garden.