HISTORY
In 1891 an eminent Columbia University botanist, Nathaniel Lord Britton,
and his wife, Elizabeth, also a botanist, inspired by their visit to the
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, near London, determined that New York should
possess a great botanical garden. A magnificent site in northern Bronx was
set aside by the State Legislature for the creation of “a public botanic
garden of the highest class” for the City of New York. Civic leaders and
financiers, including Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.
Pierpont Morgan, agreed to match the City’s commitment to finance the
buildings and improvements — initiating a public-private partnership
that continues today.
GROUNDS AND
GARDENS
A National Historic Landmark, the 250-acre grounds of The New York
Botanical Garden include dramatic rock outcroppings, wetlands, ponds, a
cascading waterfall, and a 40-acre tract of the original forest that once
covered New York City. |
Among
the horticultural attractions are 48 gardens and plant collections,
including the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, the Rock Garden, and the Jane
Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, as well as outstanding collections of
daylilies, orchids, hardy ferns, flowering trees, conifers, and cherry
trees.
CONSERVATORY
The New York Botanical Garden is home to the nation’s largest Victorian
glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a New York City landmark that
has showcased The New York Botanical Garden’s distinguished tropical and
desert plant collections since 1902. Other notable historic buildings
include the Snuff Mill (1840 — a New York City landmark), the Museum
Building (1901), and Stone Cottage (1840).
(courtesy
of New York Botanical Garden)
For more
information, phone 718-817-8700
or visit: www.nybg.org
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