Native Gardens

Free Admission

Get down to South Florida’s roots at the Collier County Museum’s Native Plant Garden.

The garden was established in 1990 as a living memorial and tribute to pioneer environmentalist, Dr. Frank Cooper Craighead, Sr., a leading authority on Florida’s native plants and the state’s official “Scholar of the Everglades”.

Development of the Craighead Garden was underwritten by the Friends of the Collier County Museum with donations from local nurserymen, plant collectors and home gardeners, and through grants from the Charles Englehard Foundation, the Reader’s Digest Foundation, the Naples Garden Club, Naples Native Plant Society, and the South Florida Water Management District.

Today, this unique teaching garden contains a collection of more than 160 species of tree and plant communities native to Southwest Florida and attracts an ever-increasing number of birds and other wildlife. Educational programs focus on the importance of protecting native plants in Florida’s horticulture and how the indigenous peoples of Southwest Florida – and later European settlers – made use of native plants in their daily lives.

Whatever the season, the Museum’s Craighead Garden is a delightful getaway where Florida’s wealth of natural beauty and history meet you at every step.