Living Collections

Colonel Robert Montgomery was a serious plant collector who left a significant botanical legacy. In addition to the extensive collections at Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC), several other Montgomery  collections exist. The Montgomery Pinetum, a National Registered Historic Site, is located on the Colonel’s former Connecticut estate. A significant portion of these plants─The Montgomery Ornamental Conifer Collection─also forms the core of the recently rededicated Benenson Collection at The New York Botanical Garden. Closer to home, The Montgomery Palmetum is the foundation of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s palm collection.

At Montgomery Botanical Center, the live plant collections established by Colonel Montgomery, beginning in 1932, shape a historic legacy and a dynamic future. MBC’s collections are continually augmented through ongoing scientific expeditions and international collaboration.

Montgomery Botanical Center is built on live scientific plant collections as the foundation from which all other functions emerge. Research, education, and conservation require excellent collections─MBC’s collections are rooted in science.

To achieve its purpose, the Montgomery Botanical Center’s skilled staff works together as a team in three closely inter-related departments:
Collections Development, Horticulture & Facilities, and Administration.

Under their stewardship are thousands of palms and cycads representing hundreds of species, many of which are threatened or endangered in the wild. To protect and perpetuate the genetic diversity of its collections, Montgomery actively builds its populations of cycads and palms by mounting three to five government-sanctioned collecting expeditions each year.

As the plants mature, Montgomery promotes conservation by harvesting the often-rare seeds for distribution to research institutions, botanical gardens, conservatories, and community organizations worldwide through the MBC/FNGLA SeedBank Program, which is the largest of its kind in the U.S.

The varied resources found at the Montgomery Botanical Center augment the scientific value of the palm and cycad collections. Primary is the Montgomery database system. Using BG-BASE, details on the life history of each accession are recorded regularly and stored digitally for easy retrieval. BG-Map tracks the position of each plant. Basic data on Montgomery Botanical Center’s collections can be found through BG-BASE’s Multi-Site hosted by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Researchers, botanical groups, historians, teachers, and students from around the globe come here to tap into Montgomery Botanical Center’s diverse resources. With a guesthouse on site, Montgomery is a 24-hour-a-day functioning laboratory and classroom.