Brooklyn Botanical Garden

The Brooklyn Botanical Garden is a 52-acre oasis in the northeast corner of Prospect Park. The garden was founded in 1910 and features more than 10,000 different plants from around the world.

I visited on May 4, 2007 and snapped these photos. The order approximates the self-guided walking tour pamphlet, which also provides the heading numbers. Guided tours are offered once a day during the spring and summer.

Click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the photos.

Eastern Parkway Gate

The entrance from the #2/#3 IRT trains. Adjacent to the grand entrance to the Brooklyn Museum.

Eastern Parkway Gate
05/04/2007 2:09 PM

Eastern Parkway Gate
05/04/2007 2:10 PM

Eastern Parkway Gate
05/04/2007 2:14 PM

Osborne Garden (13)

An Italian-style formal garden.

Osborne Garden
05/04/2007 2:18 PM

Osborne Garden
05/04/2007 5:30 PM

Visitor Center (1)

The Beaux Arts visitor center and administration building from 1911. Houses some very tiny bathrooms.

Visitor Center
05/04/2007 2:45 PM

Visitor Center
05/04/2007 2:50 PM

Daffodil Hill (2)

A blaze of gold in early April, which I missed.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden
05/04/2007 2:52 PM

Fragrance Garden (3)

Plants chosen for fragrance and texture.

Fragrance Garden
05/04/2007 2:41 PM

Shakespeare Garden (4)

English cottage-style garden featuring plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Despite the weird English names, most of them look look quite friendly.

Shakespeare Garden
05/04/2007 2:29 PM

Shakespeare Garden
05/04/2007 2:35 PM

Shakespeare Garden
05/04/2007 2:38 PM

Celebrity Path (5)

A path with stepping stones labeled with the names of famous Brooklynites. Lots of stars from the early 20th century with a few more recent luminaries.

Celebrity Path
05/04/2007 2:56 PM

Celebrity Path
05/04/2007 2:58 PM

Alfred T. White Memorial (6)

A small ampitheatre built around a monument to Alfred T. White, a Brooklyn philanthropist who was an early benefactor and trustee of the garden.

Alfred T. White Memorial
05/04/2007 3:00 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden (7)

A traditional Japanese garden designed by Takeo Shiota and first opened to the public in 1915. The large red Torii standing in the pond indicates the presence of a shrine nestled in the pines on the hill beyond. The shrine is dedicated to the Shinto god of the harvest, protector of plants. The inscription on the front of the Torii reads, Dai-myo-jin, Great Illuminating Deity, or Spirit of Light.

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:06 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:01 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:02 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:04 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:08 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:09 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:11 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:12 PM

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
05/04/2007 3:13 PM

Herb Garden (8)

A garden featuring 300 differnt medicinal, culinary, fragrant and ornamental herbs surrounding an Elizabethan knot garden, based on a 16th century design.

Herb Garden
05/04/2007 2:25 PM

Herb Garden
05/04/2007 3:41 PM

Herb Garden
05/04/2007 3:46 PM

Herb Garden
05/04/2007 3:49 PM

Tree Peony Collection (9)

A collection of peonys donated to the garden by the people of Yatsuka Town, Shimane Prefecture, in response to the 9/11/2001 attacks. "These flowers bring us happiness and comfort in times of trouble. We hope that these peonies, carefully raised by the producers in our town, can also be loved by and bring peace of mind to people in the United States."

Tree Peony Collection
05/04/2007 3:51 PM

Tree Peony Collection
05/04/2007 3:52 PM

Cherry Walk (10)

A walk on the southern end of the Cherry Esplanade, which features 76 Japanese "Kanzan" flowering cherry trees. I was there when they were in full bloom.

Cherry Walk
05/04/2007 3:52 PM
Cherry Walk
05/04/2007 3:53 PM

Cherry Esplanade (11)

Cherry Esplanade
05/04/2007 4:00 PM

Cherry Esplanade
05/04/2007 4:01 PM

Overlook (14)

Overlook
05/04/2007 2:20 PM

Native Flora Garden (15)

A 2.5 acre garden divided into different habitats and featuring native plants growing within a 100-mile radius of New York City. The center of the garden features a kettle pond, left behind by a partially buried glacial ice mass that once lived here during the last ice age. Kinda like a walk through the wild area of a city park...with labels. I always wondered what wild oats are, although I'm not sure why sowing them is such a bad thing.

Native Flora Garden
05/04/2007 4:11 PM

Native Flora Garden
05/04/2007 4:13 PM

Native Flora Garden
05/04/2007 4:20 PM

Native Flora Garden
05/04/2007 4:22 PM

Home Composting Exhibit (16)

Home Composting Exhibit
05/04/2007 4:08 PM

Cranford Rose Garden (17)

More than 5,000 plants. Blooming peaks in June.

Cranford Rose Garden
05/04/2007 4:27 PM

Cranford Rose Garden
05/04/2007 4:03 PM

Cranford Rose Garden
05/04/2007 4:04 PM

Cranford Rose Garden
05/04/2007 4:05 PM

Bluebell Wood (18)

45,000 bluebells that bloom in May.

Bluebell Wood
05/04/2007 4:30 PM

Confiers (19)

Modern descendants of ancient cone-bearing plants.

Conifers
05/04/2007 4:32 PM

Conifers
05/04/2007 4:33 PM

Monocot Border (20)

A meadow featuring a number of grand trees, including a Weeping Beech and (amusingly named) Caucasian Wingnut.

Monocot Border
05/04/2007 4:35 PM

Monocot Border
05/04/2007 4:36 PM

Monocot Border
05/04/2007 4:39 PM

Monocot Border
05/04/2007 4:52 PM

Rock Garden (22)

A garden that mimics high, mountainous areas where rocks form a permanent part of the landscape. Boulders in the garden were carried here by the southern migration of the last glacier, the Wisconsin Ice Sheet, some 30,000 years ago. The ice sheet's journey inded in a line across Brooklyn that was wider than Long Island. Along this "terminal moraine" the glacier dumped the debris it had collected, including these rounded boulders. They are labeled based upon where their composition indicates that they came from.

Rock Garden
05/04/2007 4:39 PM

Rock Garden
05/04/2007 4:44 PM

Steinhardt Conservatory (23)

The hot houses containing plants that can't live outdoors in this area.

Steinhardt Conservatory
05/04/2007 5:07 PM

Steinhardt Conservatory
05/04/2007 5:08 PM

Lily Pool Terrace (24)

Two large pools planted with nearly 100 varieties of tropical water-lillies and sacred lotus. Much more interesting later in the summer once they've grown out and started blooming.

Lily Pool Terrace
05/04/2007 2:43 PM
Lily Pool Terrace
05/04/2007 2:45 PM