Description of the attraction
The New York Botanical Garden is one of the leading in the United States. Its 100-hectare territory in the Bronx contains 50 individual gardens (in their collections - more than a million plants), research laboratories and the largest specialized library in the United States. Flower exhibitions attract over 800 thousand visitors annually.
Founded in 1891, the garden is located on land formerly owned by tobacco magnate Pierre Lorillard. This was preceded by a fundraising campaign by botanists Nathaniel and Elizabeth Britton. The couple visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London on their honeymoon and decided to create something similar in New York. Britton became the first director of the New York Botanical Garden and was so for almost forty years (since then, the garden has been home to the magnificent Fountain of the World by Charles Tefft, designed in the spirit of the Italian Baroque). Britton managed to build a stream of investments thanks to the original idea - to name plants after generous benefactors.
The founders chose this particular site for the garden, because there were varied and rich soils, beautiful landscapes, dense forests. The old forest has survived to this day - with mushrooms, mosses, ferns. Through it flows the Bronx River, along which tourists float in rented canoes. The native plant garden also contains natural flora: around its center - a pool with water cascades - oak, birch, dogwood grow. And in the coniferous arboretum, you can see pines, spruces, firs - they are good both in winter and in spring, when sakura blossoms around.
Lovers of bright colors and exotic plants will also find something to see here. For example, the azalea garden - 3 thousand azaleas and rhododendrons from all over the world bloom on the slopes under tulip trees and oaks from early spring to July. First, pale pink and lilac bloom, in late April and early May - white, coral, purple, and in July with the last burst of orange-red.
The amazingly beautiful rose garden contains over 4 thousand roses of more than 600 varieties, blooming six months a year. You can sit on a bench surrounded by roses on all sides and enjoy their scent.
The rock garden is a large rock garden. Of course, there are plenty of stones in it, but the main treasure is thousands of alpine flowers and a pond with a lovely waterfall.
The Victorian greenhouse features plants from 11 different habitats, including rainforests and deserts, as well as aquatic and carnivorous plants. In the pool of her courtyard, water lilies and lotuses flaunt.
Almost the entire territory of the garden is crossed by a special train - you can get on the car and listen to the audio guide.
If visitors come with children, they have a direct road to the Adventure Garden. Here they play, run through mazes, go climbing or study flowers and leaves under a microscope. But it is even more interesting in the Family Garden - in it, young gardeners can tinker with their hearts in the ground, digging worms or planting seeds.
