Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I decided a while back that my birthday would be the perfect day to pay the Brooklyn Botanic Garden a visit. It's cherry blossom season, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is one of the best places in New York City to see them in all their grandeur.

According to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's website, its cherry blossom season lasts 5 weeks and typically begins towards the end of March and lasts through early May, with most of its trees peaking around the time of its Sakura Matsuri festival in late April.

So I was shocked when my friend and I arrived at the Cherry Esplanade and found the trees bare. Especially shocked because the cherry trees in my neighborhood have been in bloom for at least a week or two now.

Since we'd taken advantage of the free admission slot (10am to 12pm on Saturdays), we couldn't complain too much and we took in the rest of the Garden. This was my first time at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden since 1989, and as expected, it reminded me of so many other gardens out there ... especially the Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens in Tokyo. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate until after we'd surveyed most of the park, so excuse the poor lighting in most of the photos.

The Cherry Esplanade

One of a handful of cherry blossom trees that were in bloom


The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden






Looks like little jewels floating in the sky ...



I think this was a magnolia tree.

Magnolia Plaza


I love magnolia trees ... they have so much character.



I was amused by this particular breed of magnolia.


Baby Versailles ... just kidding.



This gives me the heebie jeebies!


These looked like mini-roses.

Welcome to the Bonsai Museum


Look at those roots!



Small tree, life-sized flowers




A couple of the rooms were temperature-controlled and extremely humid.
My DSLR couldn't handle the fogginess, but my iPhone was able to!

Even the plants were sweating.




We visited the Desert room.






This plant is fascinating ... looks like upside down flamingoes ... or hairdryers.

Check out this tree ...

Yikes.

Tropical room.









The skies finally cleared as we crossed through Magnolia Plaza again.


Human-sized nest





Crazy tree


Butterfly bench


All in all, not a bad way to spend a cloudy Saturday morning! We stopped by Union Square in Manhattan later, where the Farmer's Market was as much in bloom as Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Oh well.

You Might Also Like

2 comments

  1. Happy belated birthday!
    It's strange that the cherry blossoms are not in bloom during the time of your visit. A friend in Japan told me over there it was in bloom a few weeks earlier than most years. Maybe the weather made a difference?

    The pic of 'Baby Versailles' does look like the mini version of the gardens of Versailles :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I thought it was strange too, particularly because in my neighborhood (not all that far away from Brooklyn, of course), they're in full bloom. My friends and I think it's because the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is having their official Sakura Festival next weekend and they charge money for that, so they've added something (or maybe not given the trees something) in order to ensure that they will at their peak for the festival.

      Delete

YouTube

What I'm Reading

Instagram