Best Botanical Gardens Across the USA

What many travelers don’t realize is when it comes to touring botanical gardens, it’s not really about the botany. Let’s face it, most of us are not botanists. Heck, a lot of us don’t even work on our own yards... or even have yards. So why go to the effort to visit a botanical garden? Like I said, it’s not about the botany. It’s about the serenity. Most of us live in concrete jungles where we spend our days surrounded with electronics and machinery. Vacations are all about looking for a change of scenery. And you can’t get much further from our cubicles than a quiet, green botanic garden.

National Tropical Botanical Gardens

Created in 1964 through an act of Congress, the National Tropical Gardens were formed when a group of individuals and organizations united and lobbied that the United States needed a tropical botanic garden on its own soil. The gardens are headquartered in Hawaii, but spread out over five locations on Kauai, Maui, and the state of Florida.

The Arboretum of Los Angeles County

Founded in 1948 when Los Angeles County and the State of California purchased its 111 acres, the Arboretum is home to thousands of trees and plants. The grounds are also home to over 200 peacocks and peahens, descendents of a flock brought over from India around 1880 by Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, the original owner of the property.

Huntington Botanical Gardens

When railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington passed away, his estate became the "Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens". The gardens cover approximately 120 acres and are divided into a dozen themes including the Rose Garden as well as Shakespearean Garden. The most famous, however, is the desert garden featuring over 5000 species of desert plants.

Arnold Arboretum

Founded in 1872, the Arnold Arboretum is run by Harvard University to assist with the teaching of agriculture and horticulture. The site sits on 265 acres divided into 4 parcels. Interesting enough, while the land was given to Harvard through various wills, the property is today technically owned by the city of Boston who in-turn granted Harvard a thousand-year lease.

Dallas Arboretum

There are a number of fabulous gardens in Texas. The Dallas Arboretum sits on 66 acres at the shoreline of White Rock Lake. In the springtime, the Arboretum is host to "Dallas Blooms", the largest floral festival in the Southwest with over 400,000 spring bulbs in full bloom.

Chicago Botanic Garden

Open every day of the year except Christmas, the Chicago Botanic Garden is heavily dedicated to the scientific study and conservation of endangered flora. Over 500 classes are offered by the garden on subjects ranging from gardening, to nature and the environment. The garden also boasts a membership of 50,000, the largest in the country of any pubic garden.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

One of the most visited public gardens in the United States, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is only 25 minutes by subway from Manhattan and features 52 acres of some of the most beautiful gardens in New York. For those who love Asian Cherry trees, the garden features one of the best collections outside of Japan itself.

Marie Selby Botanic Gardens

This seven acre botanical garden is dedicated to the study of epiphytes, especially orchids and bromeliads. In fact, the gardens reportedly contain the most diverse collection of bromeliads in the world. Marie Selby was the wife of William Selby, a Texaco Oil magnate.

New York Botanical Garden

One of the most respected botanical gardens in the Unites States, the New York Botanical Garden, located in The Bronx borough of New York City, is host to some of the world’s leading laboratories dedicated to the study of plants. The garden was founded in 1891, due mostly to the efforts of Columbia University botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton who’s goal was to emulate the Royal Gardens in London.

Desert Botanical Garden

Founded and Established by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937, the Desert Botanical Garden is dedicated to the collection of plants that have adapted to desert conditions. The 140 acre garden contains over 20,000 plants from deserts throughout the world.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

This 86 acre garden is dedicated to native Californian plants. Some two-thousand native species, hybrids, and cultivars are represented throughout seventy-thousand plants. The garden works closely with Pomona College and even offers graduate degrees in Botany through Claremont Graduate University.

Missouri Botanical Garden

One of the oldest botanical institutions in the Unites States, the Missouri Botanical Garden (also known as "Shaw’s Garden" after its founder) was founded in 1859 and is 79 acres in size. It is an important center for botanical research as well as host to a number of cultural festivals throughout the year.

The Lyon Arboretum

This 200 acre garden is managed by the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the outskirts of Honolulu, HI. The Arboretum was founded in 1918 by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association to demonstrate and study reforestation. Today, the majority of the park is a successful man-made, lowland tropical rainforest.

United States Botanical Garden

This is the oldest continually-operating botanical garden in the United States. Also impressive, it is located on the grounds of the United States Capitol building. It gained prominence when Charles Wilkes returned from the "United States Exploring Expedition" with a collection of plants. Those plants would be housed at this garden, and several of them survive to this day.

No matter what state you’re in, somewhere nearby there is a garden open to the public. Taking a vacation doesn’t necessarily mean getting on a plane, or even driving a car. All it may require is a short walk, and sitting down to relax in a place that’s quiet and green.

• National Tropical Botanical Gardens: light in dark places, Botanical gardens, Bo Tree {Ficus Religiosa}, Hawai'ia Tropical Botanical Garden, pdxjeff, National Tropical Botanical Garden - Kaua'i, pdxjeff, Rick McCharles, Plumeria 'Le Rainbow', Rick McCharles, Rick McCharles.
• Los Angeles Arboretum: Iris, Simple Pink Flower, Peacock, Oh My, weird flower.
• Huntington Gardens: Magic Garden, Moon Bridge, Yellow succulent, Terrace of the Jade Mirror, Bonsai Tree, Japanese Garden, Willow tree and moon bridge, Japanese Garden, Extreme Cactus, Desert Flames, Desert Colors.
• Arnold Arboretum: Purple Autumn, Red Star, Lilacs at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Skyline from St Peters Hill, Yomi No Kuni, Pink Blossom, white forsythia, fall leaves, Pink Paeonia, Peekaboo, Cathedral Window.
• Dallas Arboretum: Tulip mix, flower power, white tulips, red tulips, butterfly, horse topiary, tulip mix, daffodil, foxglove, fountains.
• Chicago Botanic Garden: Kaboom, Water Garden, spotted, pink, endless yellow, creamsicle, waterfall, water flower, english garden, tree rings, lily.
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Cherry Blossoms, imsorrybrendan, Fall at the BBG, Grape Hyacinths, Bride in Bluebell Wood, burst, Brooklyn Bridge Model, Cherry Blossoms, tulips, Bridge in Japanese Garden, Baby Blue Eye.
• Marie Selby Botanic Gardens: Butterfly, triple flower, purple, hanging, open flower, fountain.
• New York Botanical Garden: Chinese Juniper, dahlia after rain, Sunlight on the Conservatory, Rock Island Among the Mums, Moth Orchid, Devil's tongue.
• Desert Botanical Garden: superde1uxe, sonoran desert, Spring explodes, Cactus Crown, Saguaro, Prickly Pears, Arms, cactus field, Boojum Tree, Prickly Pears, Star Cactus.
• Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden: poppy glow , Douglas Iris, Tidy Tips, Black Oaks, Sitka Columbine, Shasta Sulphur.
• Missouri Botanical Garden: Missouri Botanical Garden, Tulip Dreams, Red + White = Pink, Reflection Pool, Missouri Botanical Garden, Orchids on Black.
• The Lyon Arboretum: Lyon Arboretum Hike, Etlingera corneri, jdnx, banyan tree, Lyon Arboretum Hike, Lyon Arboretum path.
• United States Botanical Garden: dc gardens, US Botanical Garden, purple tulips, United States Botanical Garden, julieminevich, joshua davis.