NYC Arts: The Complete Guide to Art and Culture

One of New York's most beautiful outdoor places, the garden is located next to the Brooklyn Museum and is right on the edge of Prospect Park. With 52 acres, the garden contains more than 12,000 plant varieties arranged by taxonomic order. Formal and informal gardens flow seamlessly into one another creating an aesthetically engaging unity throughout. The Local Flora Section consists of eight small ecosystems—native to within 100 miles of the garden—each with its unique species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and mosses.

The Japanese Hill and Pond Garden, constructed in 1914 and recently restored, is one of the finest representations of its kind outside Japan. The Fragrance Garden provides special encounters for visually impaired visitors. The Herb Garden, with its medicinal, culinary, fragrant and ornamental herbs, features a 16th-century Elizabethan-knot design. Hugh Hardy's Steinhardt Conservatory, completed in 1988, has expanded the garden's capacity to display plants from around the world. Visitors stroll through desert, tropical rainforest and temperate environments in three attractive pavilions.

The C. V. Starr Bonsai Museum houses a famous collection where orchids and tropical aquatics are exhibited year round. The Trail of Evolution exhibit is a developmental timeline of the natural world over three and a half billion years.

Programs for Seniors
Talks given at senior centers, by request.

• Directions: Subway: B, Q to Prospect Park; 2, 3 to Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum; 4,5 to Franklin Avenue. Garden entrances on Eastern Parkway (between Underhill Avenue and Washington Street); on Flatbush Avenue (at Empire Boulevard); on Washington Avenue at President Street.

• Disability Access: Full accessibility, wheelchairs provided; fragrance gardens have elevated beds and braille signage.
• Gift Shops: The Gift Shop offers personal accessories, handicrafts, textiles and everything for the home. The Garden Shop carries everything for the garden, books and gifts for children.
• On-Site Food: Terrace Cafe serves sandwiches, soup and salads; bag lunches not permitted in garden, but may be left at security gate entrance and retrieved at lunchtime; bag lunches permitted in Prospect Park, which is adjacent to the garden.
• On-Site Parking

Get involved with Brooklyn Botanic Garden

• Donations through Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Web site: There are many ways to support the Garden you love: dedications, bequests, matching donations and more.
• Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers contribute many hours in almost every department throughout the garden.
• Memberships: Member benefits include free admission, special events, publications and more. For more information on membership levels and benefits, including discounts for senior citizens, or to purchase by phone, call the BBG Membership Department at (718) 623-7210 or e-mail membership@bbg.org.