Visiting a botanical garden is the perfect spring activity, but with so many to choose from it’s hard to know which one is worth the trip. To help you narrow it down, we’re sharing the top 10 best botanical gardens in the country. This ranking comes from USA Today, which recently released the results of its annual 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards. The gardens on this list were nominated by an expert panel and voted for by readers as the best botanical gardens in the United States for 2025.

1. Longwood Gardens

Nestled in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Longwood Gardens was named the best botanical garden in the country by USA Today. Sprawling across 1,100 acres, Longwood Gardens welcomes 1.6 million guests annually. It features intricate fountain systems, stunning classical architecture, and impressive indoor and outdoor plant collections.

2. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Coming in second place is the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It includes a butterfly garden, an endangered species garden dedicated to the preservation of endangered plants, and a 100,000-bulb tulip display in spring. It was also named one of the best zoos in the U.S., ranking fifth overall.

3. Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

The Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden is located in Coral Gables, Florida, which offers a warm climate where tropical plants thrive outdoors year-round. This botanical garden has a plethora of unique exhibits for visitors to enjoy, including the Wings of the Tropics exhibit, which is home to hundreds of spectacular butterflies. Other sites include a conservatory dedicated to rare plants, a tropical fruit exhibit, a succulent garden, and a palm glade.

4. Tucson Botanical Gardens

A lush oasis in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson Botanical Gardens features an impressive collection of specialty gardens, including the Barrio Garden, the Zen Garden, the Cox Orchid and Butterfly Pavilion, and the Cactus and Succulent Garden. If you’re visiting the gardens with children, check out the Children’s Discovery Garden, which is a great spot to play and learn more about plants.

5. Lauritzen Gardens

Omaha, Nebraska’s Lauritzen Gardens boasts more than 20 themed gardens for visitors to enjoy. One of its main attractions is the Arboretum and Oberman Bird Sanctuary, a 4-acre site with seven regional plant communities, including prairie, savannah, oak hickory forest, maple linden forest, farmstead windbreak, marsh, and floodplain river margin. Other exhibits include a model railroad garden and a Japanese garden with a Mt. Fuji replica.

6. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, specializes in epiphytes—plants that grow on other plants and get their nutrients and water from the air—including orchids, bromeliads, and ferns. A second location, Historic Spanish Point Campus, is a 30-acre museum situated on Little Sarasota Bay in Osprey, Florida, that focuses on local history and plant life.

7. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

An official landmark of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is known for its renowned palm and cacti collections and impressive Orchid Room, which features an abundance of unique hybrids.

8. Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Sprawling across 55 acres, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens is located in the heart of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. There are five miles of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the gardens for people to meander. You’ll also find a historic rose garden and fountain, a beautiful garden dedicated to native plants, and an arboretum devoted to plants of eastern Asia.

9. Botanica, The Wichita Gardens

Situated in Wichita, Kansas, Botanica spans 20 lush acres of land and features over 4,000 unique plant species. It is known for its iconic themed gardens, like the Butterfly Garden, Shakespeare Garden, Sally Stone Sensory Garden, Koi Pond Pavilion, and the Chinese Garden of Friendship.

10. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Located in Boothbay Maine, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is the biggest botanical garden in New England. It spans more than 325 acres of curated gardens, natural woods, and coastal waterfront. The Dahlia and Iris Garden is a must-see—it features 80 cultivars from all major dahlia groups, from dinner plate-sized flowers to dainty orchid types.