After a three-year renovation, the Botanic Garden reopened with better exhibits than ever, the 24-metre tall Palm House being the centrepiece of the Conservatory. The appearance of the 1933 building has been preserved but modernized, creating a spacious venue for the collection of tropical and subtropical plants, and the comprehensive fern and orchid collections. Other specialties are plants native to deserts in the Old and New Worlds, plants of economic and healing value, and endangered plants rescued through an international trade program.

The Botanic Garden was originally established by Congress in 1820 to cultivate plants that could be beneficial to the American people. The garden was revitalized in 1842, when the Wilkes Expedition to the South Seas brought back an assortment of plants from around the world, some of which are still are on display.

A National Garden of plants native to the mid-Atlantic region was created on three acres nest to the Conservatory. It includes a Showcase Garden, a Water Garden, a Rose Garden and an Environmental Learning Centre.