Faial Botanic Garden is open to the public since 1986. With a central nucleus in the parish of Flamengos and an altitude nucleus in Pedro Miguel, its mission is related to the conservation and study of the Azores natural flora, promoting scientific knowledge and environmental awareness.
Turismo de Portugal distinguished it, in 2011, with an honourable mention in the award “Revitalization of Public Project”.
The Azores Seed Bank was selected in August 2015, by the “Botanic Garden Conservation International” (BGCI) as a study case on the conservation of rare seeds under the “Global Seed Conservation Challenge”.
In June 2019, the extension of the Botanic Garden opened, which includes the Azores Orchidarium, where it is possible to explore a magnificent orchid collection and its interpretative exhibition, with several facts and curiosities about this extraordinary plant family.
When visiting this Garden, the visitors can get to know the rarest plants in the Azores, the traditional crops, a beautiful orchidarium, a collection of medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as the main invasive plants. The permanent exhibition, dedicated to the Natural History of the Azores Vegetation, gives emphasis to the archipelago, as a gathering point of unique plant species of different origins and biological ages, and explains the emergence of species and communities that only occur here, and the need to preserve this unique and fragile treasure as a legacy for the future.