Best Of Tucson®

Best Public Garden

Tucson Botanical Gardens

As global warming ushers in the end, the people at the Tucson Botanical Gardens are easing our decline with practical advice about pursuing our gardening pleasures while succumbing to the reality of drought. For taxonomy purposes, presumably, the entrance is through a landscape of useless, water-hogging traditions as oleanders, sour oranges and palms. But from there, the garden path leads through let's-face-facts water-harvesting, attractive food plants and drought-resistant verdure. Frivolous, one-percenty tropical varieties are sequestered in a glass house. Bonus: Walk your dog there on Tuesdays, June through August, and they'll give you a poop bag in the gift shop.

Runners up:

2. Tohono Chul Park

7366 N. Paseo del Norte

742-6455

3. Reid Park Rose Garden

Country Club Road, just north of 22nd Street

791-4873