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Connecting professionals. Sharing knowledge. Advancing best practices
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Thank you for registering to attend the February 25 – 27, FL Suncoast One-by-Land, Two-by-Sea Tours (Tours)! We are excited to welcome you to sunny, gorgeous, and warm Sarasota in the heart of winter. This newsletter-style update is the first in a series to acquaint you with Sarasota and the Tours agenda as well as build enthusiasm for the Tours. We are here to answer questions and provide additional information – simply reply to this email with your inquiries. Please share the Tours with your LAI Friends and invite them to join you! The early bird discounts were reactivated through yearend. In a separate email, I will send you an email with my personal Tours invitation that includes the discount codes. The email is designed to make it easy for you to invite your LAI friends. With Enthusiasm, Holly Elmore
FL Suncoast Chapter President
holly@earth-impact.org
404-510-9336
Photo banner is a Sarasota skyline image from across Sarasota courtesy of Holly Elmore Images.
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For those traveling to Sarasota for the Tours, we HIGHLY recommend that you secure downtown lodging accommodations. Tours activities begin and end in the quaint downtown. Thus, a car is not necessary during the Tours. Here is the standard hotel copy from the "thank-you-for-registering email:"
It is best to make reservations at a downtown hotel as tours begin from downtown locations. The unofficial host hotel is the Aloft Hotel - Downtown Sarasota. Here is the Aloft Room Block link: https://bit.ly/4fuIJu4; other attendees found AAA or AARP discounts gave a better rate than the block rate.
The Aloft Hotel is conveniently located two blocks from lovely Sarasota Bay and amazing waterfront-dining destinations.
Photo of Aloft Sarasota is courtesy of Visit Sarasota.
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Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
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On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the Tours begin with an opening reception hosted at the internationally award-winning Selby Gardens. Jennifer Rominiecki, Selby Gardens President & CEO, is the opening reception keynote speaker.
On the final day, Friday February 26, Tours activities begin with a personalized tour of the amazing botanical garden that showcase the completed Phase I and the under-construction Phase II of the Master Plan, the lovely grounds, and the highly regarded research endeavors.
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Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history.
Established by forward-thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Sarasota campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment.
Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus features the world’s first net positive energy botanical garden complex, generating more energy than it consumes. The Historic Spanish Point campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. One of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants and active archaeology that is interpreted for and open to the public, it celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida history. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is also accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Selby Gardens was named one of Time magazine’s “World’s Greatest Places 2024,” recognized in The Wall Street Journal as “Best of Architecture of 2024,” selected as USA Today “2025 Top 10 Botanical Gardens in the U.S.,” featured in Vogue Magazine 2025 “Best Botanical Gardens in the US,” and honored with a 2025 Global Vision Award by Travel + Leisure.
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LAI SemiQ East Coast Tours
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The LAI SemiQ East Coast Tours: Land Use & History (1776-2026) celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a series of tours hosted by the seven Eastern Region chapters: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, FL Suncoast, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. The One-by-Land, Two-by-Sea Tours hosted by the LAI Fl Suncoast Chapter is the first tour in the series.
Registration is open for the following Tours:
- Annapolis, March 19 - REGISTER
- Atlanta, April 16 - REGISTER
- New York City, May 14 & 14 - REGISTER I hope that you register for other Tours, they will ALL be fantastic!!!
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