As a consequence of its geographical position, relief, climate (present-day, as well as that of the past) and hydrographic forms, the Primorsko-goranska County has a great diversity of habitats, floral communities and species.

       Botanical gardens within the Museum are envisaged as an open-air collection/permanent display of autochthonous perennials and a series of exhibitions of annuals and biennial plants. Out of five vegetation zones represented in the County, in the Gardens there are species from two coexisting in the Croatian Littoral and the Rijeka region; species from the zone of evergreen oak, and those of the deciduous submediterranean vegetation.

       Since the city of Rijeka, despite its importance as a county and transit center does not have Botanical Gardens, the Botanical Gardens of the Natural History Museum in Rijeka (the only Botanical Gardens in the County) are a great contribution to familiarizing the public with the beauty of our autochthonous floral species and specific floral communities they form in our region, and with the problems of their protection.