Spring at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

We just didn't get enough of the cherry blossoms in D.C., so we visited the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens this last Saturday (May 10th) to enjoy their blooms. I've been checking the BBG website, which has a "cherry blossom watch" page that posts the status of the blooming trees. About the middle of last week, the trees' symbols went from pre-bloom to peak bloom, so we knew it was time to head over.

We woke up to a gray, cloudy day with wet sidewalks from the recent rain. When we checked the temperature it said 70 degrees, so we decided to go despite the rain. When we reached Brooklyn, it was like a whole different place -- blue skies and sunshine. It actually got into the 80's while we were there.

The BBG offers free admission on Saturday mornings from 10 to 12, and despite our subway delays, we made it in time to get in for free. We were worried, because usually places are super crowded during free admission times/days, and it was a Saturday. It was busy, but not crazy crowded at all.

We made our way slowly along the cherry walk first, strolling through a tunnel of cherry blossoms. From there we meandered over to the nearby cherry esplanade, a grassy field with four rows of cherry trees running down its length.   

The air smelled heavenly. I loved the softly falling petals that created a pink "snow" on the ground. It was the most gorgeous place.

We wandered briefly through the rose garden, but there weren't any blooms out yet. That was okay though because I just loved being surrounded by green and the earthy smells of a garden. I always feel rejuvenated when I'm surrounded by such beauty -- it's like something inside of me (that I didn't even realize was missing/empty) falls into place and I feel a sense of peace. This has become even more pronounced since we moved to NYC. I realized on this last visit that I need to spend more time in places like this, it heals my soul and shores me up against the constant wear of city life. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good things about our city life and I don't want you to think that I'm complaining. NY has been good to us and on some level it has become our home, but I'll always be an Idaho girl. You can take a girl out of the country, but never the country out of a girl. :)

We stepped out of the rose garden and found ourselves surrounded by fragrant, blooming lilac bushes. I LOVE lilacs. My mom has a lilac bush planted at her house, and we would always cut a few of its flower stems and put them in a glass jar in our house to bring their sweet scent inside. Every time I smell lilacs, I'm transported back to spring at home in Idaho.

Mmm...can't you just smell them! Next we visited the Japanese garden. Both Brian and I love a good Japanese garden. Everything is always so pretty and peaceful.

They had beautiful flowers in the Shakespeare garden. We found one lone iris blooming.

Oh, and the tulips! I love tulips, they always make me smile. There were so many different varieties in bloom, and I loved looking at them all. There were tulips in the fragrance garden and growing in beds along the water lily pool.

Brian is a big fan of bonsai trees so we couldn't leave without seeing the BBG's collection. They had a few new ones on view this time. I loved the blooming lilac bonsai. It's the perfect solution for wanting to grow lilacs in a NYC apartment. It's blooms smelled just as nice as the larger ones.

One of my favorite things about nature is that it is constantly changing. Each season, the outdoor landscape looks just a little bit different. Last year, we visited the gardens in April, and everything was just starting to emerge after winter. So even though we had seen these spots before, it was almost like we were viewing them for the first time again. 

I included a couple of short videos just for fun. The first one is of the Cherry Walk and the second is of the Koi Fish in the Japanese gardens.