Few plant lovers would suspect New York City, with its towering skyscrapers and paved streets, to be an opportunity to experience some of the world’s best collections of plants. But the truth is, New York City offers five botanical gardens within 35 miles of each other. If you are looking for a botanical garden extravaganza, New York City is the place to go. You could visit all five in just a week. Here’s how:
There are two strategies: Either you stay in a hotel in the city or you stay just outside the city, in either Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey. The botanical gardens are located in the various “boroughs” (regions) of the City. If you are staying in Manhattan, you will go out each day in a different direction to your garden of choice for that day. If you are willing to learn how to use the subway, this will save you time and expense. Most of the botanical gardens have web sites that tell you which trains to take to get there. Otherwise, you will need to use taxis or limousines.
If you stay outside of Manhattan, look for a hotel close to one of the gardens to reduce travel time. Most of the botanical gardens list parking locations on their web sites if you plan to drive to each garden.
The five botanical gardens are:
The famous New York Botanical Garden is located in the Bronx, north of the City. This 250 acre garden is the one with the historic big glass greenhouse. If you can see no other garden, this is the one to see. Go to www.nybg.org
If you are visiting Brooklyn, stop by and see the Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s new energy-efficient visitor’s center. The garden also offers a “living roof” and water-capturing flower beds among other points of interest. See www.bbg.org
Another garden in Brooklyn is the Narrows Botanical Garden. It is a four and a half acre park created by urban volunteers. With a rose garden, turtle sanctuary, a lily pond and a zen garden, it shows what can be done in a small park. www.narrowsbg.org
The Queens Botanical Garden has 250 acres with such sites of interest as an herb garden, a wetland and woodland gardens, a bee Garden, a roof-top garden and more. You could easily spend two days here. There are also educational programs. Be sure to check the web site and plan to catch a tour or lecture. See www.queensbotanical.org
On Staten Island, there is the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden. Within its 83 acres it offers a Chinese Garden, a Healing Garden, the Italian Tuscan garden, a rose garden and a perennial garden, to name a few. Check the web site for musical performances that you may also want to experience in the garden. www.snug-harbor.org
If you are visiting Manhattan, and don’t get the time to see the five botanical gardens, be sure to visit Battery Park. It curves around the bottom edge of Manhattan island and offers many native and domestic flower gardens and unique monuments along with a spectacular view of New York harbor and the Statue of Liberty. Of course, everyone knows about Central Park. A look at its online map will have you selecting the Strawberry Fields or the statue of Alice in Wonderland along with all the other sites that you can explore within its boundaries. See www.centralparknyc.org
what a feast of beauty, flowers provide such joy if we let them