Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Winter

On Saturday, after filling up on delicious food and kindness at Tom's Restaurant in Brooklyn, I headed to the Botanic Garden. It's a few blocks from Tom's and only $5 with a student ID (which I still have — shhhh). I'd been for the first time almost a year ago, at the end of April, and marveled at the blossoming cherry trees and gorgeous grounds, but I thought I'd check it out in the winter.

It might seem strange to go to a Botanic Garden on a gray, wintry day but it was actually quite lovely. It was pretty deserted and still totally beautiful, even if most of the flowers have yet to bloom.

There were many signs of the impending spring if you looked hard enough — budding trees, chirping birds, even a few blooms — and the indoor Steinhardt Conservatory offered a nice chance to warm up in tropical, temperate and desert environments.

I had somehow missed the Conservatory entirely on my last trip, mesmerized as I was by the cherry trees, but it's a real treat. There are tons of aquatic plants, strange-looking cacti and even an orange tree inside of the beautiful glass greenhouses.

I'm finding it endlessly fascinating and surprisingly rewarding to visit places that aren't generally considered winter activities, like the Botanic Garden or Flushing Meadows Park, in the winter. It's interesting to see a place in its peak, as well as in the off-season, if the lack of crowds isn't already enough of an incentive.

However, my heart aches that I won't be here for the cherry blossom season — it was one of the very best things I've ever seen in the city and I hope I'll be able to see it again soon. I happened upon the garden during peak blossom season last year, by chance, and I actually got to see them only a few days before a huge storm made the trees almost completely bare. They have a festival, but be sure to check the bloom maps before you go — if I had waited a week for the festival, I wouldn't have been nearly as blown away.

They currently have a bonsai exhibit which is definitely worth seeing — aren't bonsai trees just the strangest? They kind of creep me out, but I'm also fascinated by them, and the flowering ones are especially beautiful.

Tomorrow my uncle and I go to the New York Botanical Gardens for their famed Orchid Show. It's supposed to be rainy/snowy so we probably won't get to see much of the grounds, but I'm excited for another taste of spring. If you get the chance, visit either of the gardens in the next few months, and tell the cherry blossoms I'll see them next year.