Plants & Gardens Blog - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

a variety of plants growing in containers

Start a Rooftop Container Garden

If you have access to a flat rooftop, you can create a simple, sustainable container garden where you can entertain guests, grow food, and enjoy the view. Learn how to choose the hardiest plants, the safest planters, and most practical watering system.

By Medi Blum

How to Grow Ferns from Spores

You don't have to be a botanist to propagate ferns. Learn how to collect and prepare spores and how to use them to grow ferns.

By Judith Jones

Growing Food

Eat Local: Sprouted Grain Bowl

Wheat berries and many other grains are viable seeds that can be encouraged to sprout. Try this delicious variation with fresh, local veggies and herbs.

By Sarah Owens

Urban Gardening

Mountain Laurel: A Shade-Tolerant Native With Beautiful Blossoms

This lovely native shrub produces exquisite late-spring flowers, and it can thrive in a wide range of locations, including small, shady Brooklyn gardens.

By Jeanne Rostaing

Birds, Pollinators & Other Wildlife

Birds of Brooklyn: American Goldfinch

This musical yellow bird is very devoted to its favorite plant.

By Joe Giunta

Urban Gardening

Weed of the Month: Common Blue Violet

This delicate-looking wildflower is irrepressible. Mow it down or pull it up, and it will almost always return. How does it survive and reproduce so well?

By Saara Nafici

Urban Gardening | The Climate Crisis

Fieldwork: Bog Asphodel

This wetland plant is endangered in two states, but Brooklyn Botanic Garden is part of an effort to conserve the species.

By Uli Lorimer

BBG Gardens & Collections

Cherry Trees in Japanese Folklore

Cherry trees and blossoms have a special significance in Shinto and Buddhist traditions. They often symbolize the impermanence of life, but they can also represent violence or even death.

By Brian Funk