Queens Botanical Garden

43-50 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355

Note: at the time of this writing (August 2006), QBG is building a new visitor/administration center on the grounds. The Garden will remain open to the public during construction, however, visitors should call ahead for possible changes in parking areas and entrances to the Garden.

Beginning with a five-acre exhibit, Gardens on Parade, in the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the Queens Botanical Garden Society was incorporated in 1946. Today it fulfills its goals of providing beautiful public gardens to the people of Queens and offering horticultural information and education to amateur gardeners.

Since moving to its present location in 1963, the QBG has grown into a major cultural and educational facility offering several major divisions: Demonstration Gardens — a resource for amateur home gardeners — include the Beach, Rock, Pergola, Patio, Wooded, and Fountain Gardens. A three-acre Wedding Garden is a Victorian Garden featuring the style of 19th century English gardens. More than ten thousand couples have used this garden on their wedding day. The six-acre Charles H. Perkins Memorial Rose Garden is the largest rose garden in the northeast.

Teaching Gardens, six of them, are used as living laboratories for Educational Programs offered to children and adults. They Include the Bird Garden, the Bee Garden, the Ethnic Garden, the Herb Garden, a Woodland Garden, and Pinetum.

Queens Botanical Garden offers a large number of programs for School Groups, from grades pre-K and up, including outreach programs conducted by Garden instructors at school. At the Garden instructors will also work with teachers to create individual programs for advanced students and children with special needs.

Just a few of the programs include, Outdoor Discovery Tour (Pre-K and up): introduces students to the outdoors, ecosystems, pollination and recycling of natural materials, and other related subjects. Includes tour to Bee Garden, Forest, Herb Garden and other areas. City Plants (grades 3 and up) teaches the importance of wild plants common to the city environment. Plants in the Lives of the First Americans (grades 4 and up) is a two-session program examining the culture of eastern North American Indians, highlighting plants used to fill their basic needs. Cooling It (grades 5 and up) shows how plants and animals adapt to cold weather, including dormancy, seed formation, leaf drop and other changes.

Some programs are seasonal. Most take from 90 minutes to 2 hours. Classes are limited to 32 students. Note that where pre-trip materials are provided, their use is required.

Hours: November thru March: Tuesday - Sunday 8am - 4:30; April thru October: Tuesday - Friday 8am - 6pm, Saturday & Sunday 8am - 7pm. Closed Mondays except legal holidays..

Admission: FREE. Parking charged on weekends: $5.00. Self-guided School Group Tours, Admission is FREE ; there is a charge of $15.00 for materials. Adults $1.00, Students $.50.
Garden Tours $90.00 per class; Workshops $100.00 per class plus materials cost (required for most courses: from $3.00 per student to $20.00 per class).
Outreach Programs, $175.00 per class, plus materials cost.

Reservations: At least 6 weeks in advance.

Lunch: Students may eat bagged lunch outdoors.

Handicapped: Accessible.

Directions: I-495 (LIE) east (from Midtown Tunnel) or west (from Grand Central Pkwy or Van Wyck) to exit 23, Main St. North on Main St. about 1 mile to Garden.

Time: 30 minutes.

Nearby: Green Meadows Farm , Queens County Farm Museum , Queens Museum of Art , New York Hall of Science , Queens Wildlife Conservation Center .

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