Queens Botanical Garden
Thirty-nine acres beside Flushing with a serious rose garden, spring cherries, and free admission in the off-season and on set weekday hours — the least crowded botanical garden in the city.
- What it costs
- Free admission during the winter off-season and on set free hours in the warm months. Otherwise a small charge. Check before travelling.
- Best in
- Spring, Summer, Fall
- Where
- 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355
- Official site
- queensbotanical.org
Small, cheap and empty
At 39 acres it is a fraction of the size of the Bronx or Brooklyn gardens, and that is the appeal — you can see it properly in ninety minutes rather than committing a day.
It is also the least visited of the three, so even on a good spring Saturday you get space. Admission is free through the winter and on set free hours in season.
What's good in it
- The Rose Garden, which is genuinely serious and peaks in June.
- Cherry trees in spring — a much quieter alternative to Brooklyn's crowds for the same two weeks.
- The Herb Garden and the Bee Garden.
- A Visitor & Administration Building that was the first LEED Platinum building in New York City, with a green roof and a constructed wetland handling its water — worth a look as a building.
The garden's programming leans heavily into the surrounding community, so there are frequently free cultural events on the lawn.
Make it a Flushing day
The right trip: eat in Flushing first, walk ten minutes south, and spend the afternoon in the garden digesting.
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is on the other side of the expressway with the Unisphere and the Queens Museum, so an ambitious day covers all three.
Getting there
The 7 to Flushing–Main Street, then a ten-minute walk south on Main Street. About 40 minutes from Grand Central.
The Q44 bus stops closer if the walk is a problem.
It is a short walk from Flushing's food, which is the obvious pairing.
Getting around once you're there
Flat and largely step-free with wide paved paths — one of the easier gardens in the city to get around. Flushing–Main Street is an accessible station.