Cherry Esplanade at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

What it is

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened in 1910 on what had been an ash dump beside Prospect Park. It is compact, about fifty acres, and planned so that something is in flower nearby wherever you stand. The cherry collection is the main draw. More than two dozen kinds flower in turn from late March, ending in late April or early May with the double pink Kanzan cherries that line both sides of Cherry Esplanade. A map on the garden's website tracks each tree. Soon after come a wood of Spanish bluebells, tree peonies, and in June the Cranford Rose Garden. The Japanese hill-and-pond garden dates from 1915.

Before you go

• Use the garden's online cherry tracker to time your visit.
• Sitting on the grass under the cherries is allowed and is the local custom. Bring something to sit on.
• Weekends in bloom season sell out. Book ahead and go on a weekday if you can.

The flowers you will see

Cherry blossomThe spring-blooming flower of ornamental cherry trees, central to Japan’s hanami customPrunus 'Kanzan'A Japanese cherry tree with large, deep pink double blossomsSpanish BluebellA spring bulb with upright blue, pink, or white bell-shaped flowersRoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many coloursPeonyLarge spring flowers in pink, red, white, yellow and purple, grown in gardens worldwide

More in New York City

🇺🇸 New York City · All yearThe flower block on West 28th StreetA single Manhattan block where wholesale florists put trees, branches and buckets of flowers out on the pavement each morning. 🇺🇸 New York City · Feb to OctThe New York Botanical Garden in the BronxA 250-acre garden with a Victorian-style glasshouse, a late winter orchid show, an azalea hillside and a large rose garden. 🇺🇸 Honolulu · All yearMake a lei in HonoluluLearn to string a Hawaiian flower lei, and see the lei stands of Chinatown. 🇺🇸 Lancaster · Mar to MayCalifornia poppies in the Antelope ValleyA state reserve in the high desert north of Los Angeles where hills turn orange with California poppies in a good spring. 🇺🇸 Borrego Springs · Feb to MarDesert wildflowers at Anza-BorregoAfter a wet winter, the desert floor around Borrego Springs fills with verbena, primrose and desert sunflowers. 🇺🇸 Washington, D.C. · Mar to AprCherry blossom around the Tidal BasinThousands of Japanese cherry trees flower around the Tidal Basin and the memorials in late March or early April.