Delaware’s Mt. Cuba Center is top botanical garden in the country, USA Today poll finds
The Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware has been selected as Best Botanical Garden in North America in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers' Choice Awards.
The Mount Cuba Center in Hockessin, Del., has been selected as the best botanical garden in North America” in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
The public garden is dedicated to native plants and ecological gardening. It bested other institutions including the Chicago Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden.
”Mount Cuba Center’s amazing community of members, guests, students, volunteers, staff, and board members all contributed to our success, as they do every day,” Jeff Downing, executive director of Mount Cuba, said in a statement. ”Mount Cuba is about building a community where all of our incremental, individual efforts add up to larger, positive results.”
Downing noted that the region has 30 public gardens within a 30-mile radius of Philadelphia.
Mount Cuba was among 20 gardens and arboretums nominated by a USA Today panel. Voting, open to readers, closed July 6 and the winner was announced Friday.
The botanical garden was part of the estate of Lammot du Pont Copeland and his wife, Pamela. Visitors can tour the formal gardens of the mansion, or walk through woodlands and meadows replete with vistas. Staff conduct research on site, and teach students about native plant gardening.