The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was recently named Best Botanical Garden in the United States in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice poll, nudging out such notable competitors as the New York Botanical Garden and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was given to the University of Minnesota in 1958 by the Men’s Garden Club of Minneapolis, Lake Minnetonka Garden Club, Minnesota State Horticultural Society, and other community supporters. Today, it features more than 1,200 acres of gardens, woods, and prairies with more than 5,000 plant varieties. 

“We already knew we were the best,” says Arboretum Director Pete Moe. “Now the whole country knows it, too.”