The locals know how wonderful the Tucson Botanical Gardens (TBG) are. Now, they can share it with the world.
TBG has been nominated for the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice 2025 for Best Botanical Garden.
This is cause for celebration.
“To receive this recognition once again from a distinguished national panel is a powerful testament to Tucson Botanical Gardens’ enduring reputation as a ‘big garden on a small footprint,’” said Michelle Conklin, TBG CEO and president.
This is TBG’s third nomination. In 2023 and 2024, TBG reached fourth place. Although that is an honor, TBG is hoping to go higher. They cannot do it without votes and that’s where Tucson comes in.
TBG needs us to cast one vote every day until noon EST, Monday, March 10. The winner will be announced Wednesday, March 19. Currently, TBG is in sixth place.
This is no small honor. Twenty public gardens are included, featuring prominent names such as the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, and the Chicago Botanic Garden in Chicago.
To be eligible for the running gardens, you must be nominated by a panel of 21 experts, primarily travel and food writers. Then, the USA TODAY 10 Best editors narrow the field down to 20. After that, voting commences.
Tucson Botanical Gardens, set in mid-town on nearly six acres, has a collection of more than 7,000 plants in more than 20 curated garden spaces.
Look for a collection of cacti, grasses, flowers and mature trees. Gardens include Cacti and Succulents of the World and Nuestro Jardín, a traditional Mexican American neighborhood garden, among others. The Great Garden Express is a G-scale model railway set in an Arizona, Sky Island-inspired landscape. TBG also houses the only tropical butterfly pavilion in Southern Arizona, open October through May.
Tucson Botanical Gardens
Tucson Botanical Gardens
2150 N. Alvernon Way
To vote for the Tucson Botanical Gardens, visit 10best.usatoday.com
You may vote only once a day.
