Native Flora Garden

The Native Flora Garden exhibits plants native to the New York metropolitan area arranged to represent the habitats that once flourished here.

The current garden includes a small forest that was established not long after Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened a century ago, along with a newer sunlit portion which includes meadow, bog, and pine barrens habitats. Winding paths and a boardwalk lead visitors through this three-acre space.

Full of life in all seasons, the Native Flora Garden sees some of the first signs of spring in the city when bloodroot, trillium, and other spring ephemerals emerge. In summer, colorful blooms and tall grasses flourish in the meadow, and the garden attracts native bees, wasps, monarchs and other butterflies, as well as migrating and resident birds, from hummingbirds and petite warblers to great blue herons, ospreys, and red-tailed hawks.

Brilliant foliage and late-blooming flowers emerge in autumn, and in winter, small paw prints can be seen leading away from the bare, hollow trees, and back again.

Listen: Ohkehteau (Plants of the Earth): A Shinnecock Oral History

Highlights

The older, wooded section of the Native Flora Garden after a snowfall. Photo by Lynn Stabile.

Acer rubrum (red maple) leaves in fall color. Photo by Blanca Begert.

Liatris pilosa (shaggy blazing star) in September. Photo by Blanca Begert.

Clematis ochroleuca (curlyheads) in spring. Photo by Blanca Begert.

A great blue heron visits the Native Flora Garden's bog in late summer. Photo by Sarah Schmidt.

Plant Collection

View an interactive list of plants in this location.

Open Plant Finder

Videos

Introduction to the Native Flora Garden

Gardener Will Lenihan talks about the garden's ecosystems and some of the unique and important plants grown here.

Pollinators in the Native Flora Garden

The garden provides habitat for pollinators of all kinds, including bees, wasps, and spiders. And now more monarchs are visiting than ever before!