Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has announced that it has received a fifth, $1 million-dollar gift to be used for Phase I of the Master Plan for its downtown Sarasota campus.  The funds come from Marcia Jean Taub and Peter Swain, who made the gift in memory of Taub's parents, Ethel and Ron Taub.

As a part of their gift, Taub and Swain also provided a matching challenge for Selby Gardens’ Solar Array campaign, which led to nearly 150 named solar panels and raised more than $375,000 additional dollars for the Master Plan. To date, Selby Gardens has raised $40.1 million, or 94 percent of the $42.5 million needed to implement Phase I of the Master Plan. The gardens broke ground on the Master Plan on June 3 and construction has begun; the three-phase plan will take several years to complete.