A Visit to Brooklyn Botanic’s Cranford Garden
I’ve lived in NYC my entire adult life and had never visited Brooklyn Botanic Garden. New York Botantical, yes. But not BBG.
Who knew? Marc decided to school me, and from our first visit in April I was in love. We’ve now visited three times: first to see the magnolias, then to see the cherry blossoms, and most recently, on Friday, June 2, to see the roses in BBG’s Cranford Rose Garden.
Oh. My. Goodness. Breathtaking doesn’t begin to describe it. If you want to stroll through an airy, blue-sky garden, down grass-carpeted paths and bricked walks, under rose-covered trellises and around profusely blooming beds, drinking in the astonishing beauty and heady perfume of roses in more colors and varieties than you can imagine, Cranford Rose Garden is the place for you: a 95-year-old garden featuring more than 1,000 varieties, making it, according to BBG, “one of the largest collections in North America.”
Go now if possible while most of the roses are still in first bloom, or go in late summer/early fall for the second bloom. To tempt you or tide you over, here’s a sampling of the varieties in bloom during our visit, with names and other information included for most but not all of them. (Leave your cursor on the image to access information.)
My apologies for leaving some roses unnamed. They’re all identified in the garden and have such interesting names. But their beauty speaks for itself. Enjoy.
Happy June!