Brooklyn Botanic Garden

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a 52-acre urban botanical garden located adjacent to Prospect Park in the Prospect Heights and Crown Heights neighborhoods. Founded in 1910, the garden has grown from a reclaimed waste dump into one of the most respected botanical institutions in the United States, welcoming over 900,000 visitors annually.

The garden's collections include over 14,000 plant species displayed in a variety of themed gardens and environments. The Japanese Garden, designed by Takeo Shiota and opened in 1915, is considered one of the finest Japanese-style gardens outside of Japan. The Cranford Rose Garden features over 5,000 bushes representing more than 1,400 cultivated varieties of roses.

The Cherry Esplanade and Cherry Walk host one of the premier cherry blossom viewing experiences in America. The annual Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) draws tens of thousands of visitors each spring for a celebration of Japanese culture that includes traditional music, dance, martial arts demonstrations, and the spectacle of over 200 cherry trees in bloom.

The Steinhardt Conservatory houses tropical, temperate, and desert environments under glass, while the Native Flora Garden showcases plants indigenous to the northeastern United States. The Discovery Garden provides hands-on nature education for children, and the extensive herbarium contains over 300,000 preserved plant specimens used in scientific research.

The garden serves a critical role in plant conservation and urban environmental education, maintaining seed banks, propagation programs, and research partnerships with institutions worldwide. Its citizen science programs engage thousands of volunteers in phenology monitoring, bird counts, and biodiversity surveys.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a masterwork of urban horticulture: a place where world-class science, stunning beauty, and accessible public education come together on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn. For the surrounding neighborhoods of Crown Heights and Prospect Heights, the garden provides a daily connection to the natural world that is rare in any city.