Every year, Time magazine 100 Greatest Places in the Worldand Sarasota’s top tourist destinations made the list this year.
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens It is one of eight locations in the United States included on this list, and one of two in Florida. World Equestrian Center in OcalaDestinations on the 2024 list include Maui Cultural Heritage Site in Lahaina, Hawaii; Kama African Rainforest in the Republic of Congo; Moroccan Culinary Museum in Marrakech, Morocco; and Saka Museum in Jimbaran, Indonesia.
To compile the list, TIME magazine solicited nominations and submissions for a variety of places including hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums and parks from its network of international correspondents and contributors. Last year’s list featured 50 cities, but this year’s list was created with an emphasis on places that “offer new and exciting experiences,” according to the magazine.
In March, Selby was named the No. 3 best botanical garden in the country in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Sarasota’s Selby Gardens recognized for sustainability, etc.
“Sarasota stands out as Florida’s cultural center,” the magazine said, noting the Ringling Museum and the Sarasota Art Museum.
It says Selby’s latest completion The project, the first phase of a larger transformation of the downtown garden campus, “has really captured everyone’s attention with this lush oasis of banyan trees and mangroves,” he said, noting that the recent addition of 57,000 square feet of solar photovoltaic panels makes it the first net-positive energy botanical garden complex.
“The new Welcome Center will lure arrivers into a stunning air-plant-covered outdoor structure showcasing the Gardens’ many wonders, including their world-renowned collections of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, bay laurels and ferns,” the magazine reports.
With the first phase of the renovation project complete, “we are now recognized as a world leader in sustainability and an international innovator for botanical gardens, museums, cultural organizations, scientific institutions and restaurants around the world,” Selby Gardens President and CEO Jennifer O. Rominiecki said in a statement.
What is the World Equestrian Center in Ocala?
regarding World Equestrian CentreRegarding the , featured in the accommodations section, the magazine says that its “378-acre, oak-lined campus is the largest equestrian complex in the United States” and plays host to major events drawing athletes from around the world.
The complex will also include a new 390-room hotel, The Riding Academy, the existing “even more upscale” 248-room “Equestrian Hotel,” 29 indoor and outdoor arenas, a swimming pool, a high-end toy and clothing showroom, and “a variety of restaurants, from a French-style patisserie and gastropub with live music to a chop house where a master sommelier will guide you through a chateau-caliber wine list of more than 6,000 bottles,” the magazine reports.
What is Selby Gardens in Sarasota?
Selby Gardens was established in 1973 after gardener Marie Selby donated land for the “enjoyment of the general public” following her death. The 15-acre site in downtown Sarasota features a banyan grove, mangroves from Sarasota Bay, a botanical research department, and a diverse collection of live plants. It is believed to be the only botanical garden in the world that focuses on the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, bay laurels, and ferns. It has more than 20,000 greenhouse plant species. It also has the world’s second-largest collection of liquid preserved specimens, with more than 35,000 specimens, after the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.
In 2020, Selby Botanical Gardens expanded its operations with the addition of Historic Spanish Point at Osprey. Once the winter home of Chicago socialite Bertha Palmer, the Historic Spanish Point campus was the first site in Sarasota County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After opening the three new buildings in January 2024, Selby is moving forward with two more phases of the master plan, which will eventually include a new glasshouse designed to protect living plants from hurricanes and a redesign of visitor pathways around the campus.
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