Seeing the Spring Cherry Blossoms // New York Botanical Garden
It’s cherry blossom season in New York City! The blooms, to me, symbolize the beginning of spring, even though it has been fairly chilly and very windy recently.
Given that it was our first spring in the city, and we hadn’t yet visited the New York Botanical Gardens, we decided to make it out there to see spring flowers in all their glory. Plus, the Orchid Show (Jeff Leatham’s Kaleidoscope) was going on (it ends in two days!), and I love orchids. My mom has orchids all over the house (it’s her favorite flower), so I grew up loving them as well.
By the time we got to the Bronx it was about 1pm in the afternoon, and there was no parking in the gardens or in the additional parking the gardens offers. We drove around a bit, and did manage to find parking, but without cash, it was hard to park in one Google’s many listed lots (some sketchier than others).
New York residents can get tickets for just the gardens (no conservatory) for $15, instead of the normal ticket price of $30, which includes the gardens + conservatory + tram. But we wanted to see the orchids, so the full-price ticket was definitely worth it.
The first thing we did was see the orchid show, mostly because it’s close to the entrance, and there wasn’t much of a line when we went in. Inside, however, was fairly crowded, and the attendant at the front kept ushering people further in, even though the best part of the whole show is right when you walk in. He was even scooping water from the pond onto the bench so people wouldn’t sit and take photos. Clearly he was not there to serve the people.
We spent about an hour in the Conservatory, making our way through the various stunning orchid displays.
When we left the conservatory (it’s a one-way through the whole thing), there was a massive line of probably ~50-100 people? We were very lucky in our timing!
We made our way past them, through the azaleas (which weren’t in bloom yet) to Daffodil Hill, which was arguably one of the best moments of the garden! It was beautiful and blooming, and there was live music coming from the nearby pavilion area. If we had some cheese, crackers, and wine, it would have been a fantastic outing in those fields.
I had assumed we would take the tram (it was part of the ticket, after all), but the line made us pause — there were at least 150 people in line, and when we asked how long one of them had waited, he said 15-20 minutes. The trams also run clockwise around the garden and we wanted to go counter-clockwise. We didn’t see this stated anywhere (and the map doesn’t have arrows) but all the trams we saw carrying people were going clockwise around the park. Just a heads up, if you plan to go and use the tram as your primary transportation.
Walking around the park is not very strenuous though — the map makes it look bigger than it is. We quickly made our way past the rose garden (also not in bloom) to the cherry orchard. This is what we had come here for. To be really honest, it wasn’t as stunning as I had hoped it would be, though the trees are supposedly very old. I think locations around Central Park are even more beautiful right now, and much more easily accessible than the NYBG.
We played around in the cherry trees for a bit before we had to head back to the city. And on our way back to the entrance, we actually found a particularly stunning cherry tree, though there were a lot more people here than in the grove.
All in all, the NYBG is a great way to spend an afternoon, particularly in the spring, and I would recommend bringing a picnic and some friends to enjoy the sun and the flowers!
Outfit details: Zara printed shirt dress. Cole Haan sandals. Oura ring