People will be casting votes at City Hall this week and next, but not for a political race.

A little more than a dozen residents are competing in the first-ever City of Leominster Flower Garden Contest, an event organized by Shelby Robichaud, Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella’s secretary.

Pictures of the contestants’ gardens are currently on display inside City Hall.

Robichaud said she planned the contest in order to showcase the work of the city’s green thumbs.

“There are beautiful gardens around, it’s just, who gets to see them?” Robichaud asked.

People can fill out a ballot in Mazzarella’s office to back their choice for first, second and third place.

The gardeners are battling it out to win “bragging rights,” according to Robichaud.

One of the competitors, Maria Carmel Gurucharri of 34 Orchard St., said she would like to win the contest but is willing to settle for simple recognition.

“Even if I get an honorable mention, that’s nice,” she said while giving a reporter a tour of her garden Monday afternoon.

Gurucharri’s garden — a labyrinth of green, purple, pink, orange and yellow — takes up most of the yard around her gray, three-story Victorian house near the city’s downtown.

She enthusiastically pointed out the different types of flowers: Hydrangeas, butterfly bushes and geraniums to name a few.

Gurucharri, who works as a guidance advisor in the Boston Public School system, moved to her house in 1993 with little gardening experience, but picked it up as a hobby during the following years.

“I’m just experimenting and doing different things,” she said. “I learn by doing.”

Another competitor, Francis Bissonnette of 10 Eighth St., said his garden is the result of various family members pitching in over the years.

Bissonnette and his wife, Marie Anne, are both retired and have grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He said he spends about an hour working in his yard each morning.

He has a flower bed on the side of his house that features a small fish pond with lily pads, live goldfish and a fountain spraying a bell-shaped stream of water.

“It’s very enjoyable for the grandchildren. They come over here and you let them feed the fish,” he said.

Among the flowers in the garden are petunias, geraniums and lilies.

“This is one of the best years we’ve had,” said Bissonnette. “Everything is so nice and green. The flowers came up when they were supposed to come up.”

Kathleen Young’s garden on the side of her driveway at 8 Lynnhaven Road “has been eight years in the making,” she said.

Young planted “drought-resistant” flowers because her garden receives sunlight for much of the day, she said.

Among Young’s flowers are pink begonias, orange gerberas, yellow black-eyed Susans and cat mint, which is like catnip.

“Cats love it,” she said.

Young retired from nursing a year ago, she said.

She enjoys tending to her plants as a way to relax and have fun, she said.

“I love gardening,” she said. “To me, it grounds me. It’s like finding your soul.”

Pat Brown, another contestant, spent “probably thousands” of hours working in the various flower beds around the yard at 1213 Main St., where she lived for about two years.

She even got some help and used large granite blocks to build a wall along part of the front yard.

Brown now lives in an apartment in Leominster and is trying to sell the house.

The top three gardeners will be featured on the city’s Web site.

People have until Aug. 18 to vote for their favorite garden in the contest.