TAMPA, Fla.—Sarasota’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens won even more bragging rights this summer, as Time magazine announced its annual list of the World’s Greatest Places. On the list of 100 places, Selby Gardens was one of only eight found in the United States.
It was also the only Florida location in its category and the only botanical garden on the list, according to a news release sent by the gardens.
To compile the list, Time asked for nominations of places including hotels, attractions, restaurants, museums and parks from its correspondents and contributors. There is also an application process.
Time’s announcement gives props to Sarasota’s cultural scene by also shouting out the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Sarasota Museum of Art.
But Selby Gardens’ downtown campus on Sarasota Bay was the winning attraction. The announcement called the gardens a “thriving oasis of banyan trees and mangroves” and makes note of its recent expansion and its position to become the world’s first net-positive energy botanical garden due to its 57,000-square-foot solar array.
“The visitor experience is equally impressive,” the announcement states. “A new welcome center beckons arrivals into an open-air structure draped with spectacular air plants that introduce the gardens’ many wonders, including a world-renowned collection of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, and ferns.”
It highlights The Green Orchid, the new restaurant that uses electric and induction equipment and “sources produce from rooftop gardens cared for by a group of military veterans.”
Also noted is the stormwater management system that cleans millions of gallons of water each year before it’s returned to the bay and the upcoming restoration of the 1920s-era Payne Mansion.
“For now, there’s more than enough to admire across this 45-acre green lung housing some of the world’s most noteworthy plantlife,” the story said.
