The U.S. Botanic Garden opens Season's Greenings: National Parks and Historic Places on Thursday, November 26, 2026, and runs the show through Sunday, January 3, 2027. The Garden states on its own exhibit page that there is no admission fee and no tickets are required for any area, including the holiday train display.
A team of six and a team of 26 enter the same way. Neither pays at the door, and neither books a slot.
The hours a meeting day allows
The Conservatory and the outdoor train display both run 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily, and both close on December 25. A lunch gap or a 3 p.m. adjournment fits inside that window. The gated outdoor gardens open at 7:30 a.m., and the Terrace Gardens and Bartholdi Fountain and Gardens stay open from dawn to dusk.
The show runs 39 days, so a team can place the stop on whichever day the meeting leaves loose.
Six evenings that run to eight
The Conservatory and the outdoor train display stay open until 8:00 p.m. on December 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 and 29. Live holiday music runs from 5 to 8 on those evenings, and food and drink vendors work the grounds. A session that breaks at 5 has somewhere to go that costs nothing to enter.
The Garden opens the gated outdoor gardens at 10:00 a.m. on December 5 for sensory-friendly programming, so that morning runs on a different clock.
What is in the display
Model trains pass 37 plant-built entries, among them the Grand Canyon landscape, Bright Angel Lodge, Mount Vernon, the Statue of Liberty, Old Faithful Inn, the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, Denali Mountain, Taos Pueblo, Fort McHenry and Devil's Tower. One entry is the National Park Service arrowhead emblem. Inside, the Conservatory carries more than 20 D.C. landmarks built from plant parts, with the Lincoln Memorial, the U.S. Capitol and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial among them, set among poinsettias from heirloom to newly developed varieties.
The Garden warns that the outdoor train display may not run in inclement weather. The Conservatory is indoors.
Getting a team there
The Conservatory entrance is at 100 Maryland Ave. SW. The Orange, Blue and Silver lines stop at Federal Center SW. The Garden's directions run north along Third Street SW for two blocks, across Independence Avenue and one more block to Maryland Avenue, where the glass dome stands against the Capitol.
Metrobus D10 stops behind the Conservatory at Independence Avenue and First Street SW. The D1X stops on Independence Avenue at Third Street SW.
The Garden holds no parking lot and no tour bus parking. Metered street spaces sit within a few blocks, and tour buses use the marked route to Parking Lot B at Union Station. A team arriving from a downtown hotel rides transit.
What the Garden lends a group
Visitor Services lends wheelchairs on a first-come, first-served basis, including a bariatric chair. The borrower leaves a driver's license or government-issued photo ID and collects it on return. Sensory bags go out the same way. Each holds noise-reducing headphones, weighted lap blankets and a selection of fidgets.
Sign language interpretation runs through USBGaccessibility@aoc.gov with five business days' notice where possible. The audio tour plays in English and Spanish on any phone at (202) 730-9303, or at usbg.oncell.com. Transcripts of every stop sit on the mobile site, so a team can split up and follow the same commentary.
When to go
The Garden reports its busiest days on holidays and on the weekends around them. Its accessibility page names Tuesdays and Wednesdays as the least busy days and afternoons as the quieter half. A weekday afternoon in early December carries both.
Strollers are welcome, personal property stays with its owner, and every restroom holds two accessible stalls and infant changing tables. Benches with backs and armrests sit through the indoor Conservatory, and tables, chairs and benches sit through the outdoor gardens.
The cost line
Admission is zero, the audio tour is zero, and nothing needs a reservation. The trip is the cost: one Metrorail ride each way to Federal Center SW at the WMATA fare for the hour the team travels. A planner building a day rate gets a breakout priced at a transit fare.
bookMyTeam sends one request to 50 or more hotels per destination. Hotels return group rates within 24 to 72 hours, and the company quotes group savings of 15 to 40 percent off the best available rate. The request is free to submit and carries $0 in fees.
