TRAVEL // BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN

We made it, New York! After enduring these last 4-6 months of winter, spring is finally here! The birds are chiming in every pleasantly warm morning. The city is awakening from its long hibernation. Everyone is shedding their winter coats to frolic and soak up the sunshine outdoors. Life is beautiful again. To take advantage of the gorgeous weather, I decided to put my amateur photography skills to the test after taking a couple online classes over winter. (Still so far from getting at Nan’s level :'( ) I grabbed my newly purchased mirrorless camera and headed on over to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Two weekends ago, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden had their annual Sakura Matsuri, cherry blossom festival. However, like the spring weather, the cherry blossoms arrived very fashionably late this year. Most of the trees only started blossoming as of early last week. BBG even has a map, updated daily, to show when each tree is in bloom since they can be rather unpredictable. Inside, the entrance opens out into a spectacular view of the Cherry Esplanade.

(P.S. I’m pretty proud of being able to focus on the foreground and background separately with this new camera. Win!)

If you’re ever practicing photography, flowers are such a great subject to capture since, well, it’s really difficult to make them look bad.

Before I get too carried away with these cherry blossoms (even more than I already have), there are plenty of other beautiful plants and flowers to see this season, like tulips…

Gorgeous magnolia trees…

and daffodil hill.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden still has plenty to offer outside the cherry blossom season. Late last spring, I was able to catch these fields of bluebells in bloom. (insert emoji with heart eyes)

Their gift shop has all sorts of beauties to bring home and spruce up your space! I particularly loved this minimal vertical plant display.

Other than that, the cherry blossom season only lasts for 5 weeks, so make sure to catch them while they’re in bloom!

Tip: Admission to the museum is $12, but if you bring your student ID, it will be $6. 🙂 Otherwise, admission is free on Tuesdays if you’re able to make it during work hours.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

150 Eastern Parkway
990 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225