Every botanic garden I've visited has lots to offer, and in every season—even the dormant winter offers different views and more open vistas of landscape in particular.
But my favorite season is spring, when the unseen winter work of plants and planters becomes visible and green, and yellow, and purple, and pink and more.
At the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden, a 1562 lantern once dedicated to Japan's emperor, given to BBG after twenty years of New York and Tokyo as sister cities
Each year I wait for the magic moment when all the neighbors' hedges are suddenly budding, when trees along the avenues turn overnight from just a little green that that special fresh green that is spring, that is different from the deeper greens of summer and the fading greens of fall.
But even before that moment, as if it has a climate of its own, the change happens in 'my other backyard,' the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, with beds of tulips and other flowers, and in particular, the magnificent magnolias the Garden is famous for.
No fish or lilies yet in the ponds; those are for later, and later trips will bear different flowers, different fruit and different colors. All wonderful, but nothing quite like spring in the Garden...and in any Garden.
In the last few years I've noticed more and more gardens to see. Each is different—different climates, different specialties, different histories, all worth a visit. What's up for spring in your botanic gardens?
If you've gotten this far, you know I have a hard time limiting the number of garden pictures. So be it!
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