Brooklyn Botanical Garden
1000 Washington Avenue  
Brooklyn, NY 11225-1099  
(718) 622 4433 ext. 216 groups  
www.bbg.org 

Founded in 1910, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (BBG) offers a truly rich experience for families and groups alike. 

A few of the "Many Gardens within a Garden" include the Children's Garden, tended each year by about 450 kids, ages 3 through 18; The Cranford Rose Garden, exhibiting more than 5,000 bushes of nearly 1,200 varieties; The Herb Garden, with more than 300 varieties -- "herbing" is apparently taking the country by storm as people rediscover medicinal, culinary, and other uses; and The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, a beautiful creation featuring a Viewing Pavilion, Waiting House, Torri, shrines, bridges, stone lanterns, waterfalls, pond, and miniaturized landscape. 

About half of the BBG's 52 acres is devoted to the Systematic Collections: trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants arranged to show their evolutionary progression. Visitors will also enjoy the Conifer Collection, Daffodil Hill, Oriental Flowering Cherries, and other special collections. 

The Steinhardt Conservatory 
The Steinhardt Conservatory is a $25 million complex holding BBG's extensive indoor collection in realistic environments that simulate a range of global habitats. The Tropical Pavilion, 65 feet high, re-creates a rain forest complete with a waterfall and streams. Flora from the Amazon Basin, African Rain Forest, and tropical eastern Asia thrive here. The Helen Mattin Warm Temperate Pavilion houses plants from central China, the Mediterranean, Australasia, southern Africa, and the western U.S. The Desert Pavilion holds spectacular plants from arid regions. 

The Conservatory offers other wonderful displays and exhibits on themes such as geological and botanical evolution, tropical water plants, and the country's oldest and largest Bonsai collection. A Gallery holds seasonal botanical displays and changing art exhibitions, and the Discovery Center, the first in the country, offers self-guided programs for kids, with shelter, food, clothing, and health as themes. 

Families and individuals can take a variety of self-guided tours, and many classes are offered to satisfy any level of interest, from beginner to advanced. Botany, Landscaping, Horticulture, Composting, Herbs, Crafts, Flower Arranging, Art, Photography, and other subjects are thoroughly covered. A calendar of year-round special events and tours wraps up an outstanding public program. 

Membership is available for individuals and families at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.  As well as the opportunity to belong to a great organization, benefits include free admission to the Garden, special members-only hours and events, discounts in the Garden Gift Shop and at the Terrace Cafe, and discounts on classes and programs for adults and children. 

Obviously a great place for a family outing, BBG is also a fantastic educational resource for its community and school and other groups from neighboring boroughs and counties. 

School Programs range from Self-Guided and Guided Tours to Explorations and Workshops such as Making Sense of Nature (grades pre-K - 2): students experience the sensory world of plants through sight, smell, touch, and taste; Herbs and Spices from Around the Globe (K - 6): students learn the botany and uses of herbs and spices, sample various products, and even plant an herb to take back to class; Our Green Inheritance (3 - 9): introduces students to some of our more useful plants, such as those from the grass family, and coffee and chocolate; Environmental Issues (7 - 12): an intermediate workshop covering topics like pollution, acid rain, global warming, and endangered habitats. Students will learn how they can be part of the solution, and they will even make compost; Under the Sun (3 - 9): explores the fascinating plants of the African deserts; and Flower Explorations (3 - 4): teaches about pollination and fruit formation. There are many other great programs like these, each lasting 1½ - 2 hours. Programs can accommodate up to 35 students. 

Finally, BBG offers special services and memberships for teachers to help them become more proficient in teaching botany and its related subjects.