Springtime at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden was founded in 1910 and today covers 52 acres of land along Flatbush Avenue in the borough of Brooklyn. There are over 12,000 species in the Garden which welcomes over 725,000 visitors annually. Residents of the nearby Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Park Slope neighborhoods along with tourists from around the world seek natural beauty and tranquility at the Garden, which has numerous unique plant collections, specialty gardens, a greenhouse pavilion and so much more to enjoy year-round.

Originally plans for Prospect Park were for it to straddle Flatbush Avenue, when the land was purchased by the City of Brooklyn for this purpose in 1864. However, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's final plans for the Park eliminated this problem by instead utilizing the land northeast of the Avenue as an "ash dump". Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

However as the city moved toward consolidation of the boroughs in 1897, 39 acres of that ash dump were set aside for the purposes of a botanic garden, which was finally founded in 1910. It opened to the public in May of 1911, making the Brooklyn Botanic Garden now over 100 years old.

Harold Caparn was the primary landscape architect of the Garden and responsible for many of its major landscape elements today, including the Osborne Garden, Cranford Rose Garden and Magnolia Plaza. There are still expansions being made to the Garden today. The BBG is involved in scientific research, youth education, and also community outreach to help neighbors of the Garden "green" their own environments.

You can learn more at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Official Website, including what's currently in bloom and what special events are coming up on their calendar.

(Image above: Tropical flowers inside the climate-controlled Conservatory.)

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is open year round except on Mondays and major holidays; hours vary seasonally and the Conservatory closes earlier than the Garden grounds. There are free guided tours on the weekends but it's easy enough to grab a map and simply explore on your own; be sure to wear comfortable shoes as you go walking about!

The easiest way to get to the Garden from Manhattan or the other boroughs is to take the subway; the 2, 3, 4, 5 and Q trains all stop near one of the park entrances. There is also a parking lot near the Washington Avenue Entrance.

Food and beverages except bottled water and baby bottles are not permitted on the grounds; there is, however, a very lovely cafe serving salads, sandwiches, soups and specialties of the day to stop for refreshment.

Want to spend the entire day in the area? The Botanic Garden is right next to the Brooklyn Museum, home of New York City's second largest art collection. There is also Prospect Park across Flatbush Avenue: 585-acres of landscaped and natural beauty with playgrounds, a zoo, the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, a carousel and much more to explore and enjoy.

As part of their education and outreach programs, the BBG has published a number of guidebooks to help gardening and landscaping enthusiasts bring beauty to their own home environments.

Hurricane Sandy caused significant damage and devastation throughout the Northeast in 2012, and the BBG was not spared from the storm's wrath. According to a BBG press release at the time, dozens of trees were felled or sustained significant damage during the storm, including 80-year old little-leaf lindens and a historically important Chinese parasol tree.

However, the park was relatively lucky in that it did not sustain more damage and today visitors will see much unchanged from before - save the addition of a new tree house installation built from the wood of trees felled in the storm.