Brooklyn Botanical Gardens-Summer Events

Sunset Solstice performances are held on the Cherry Esplanade.

By Dory Adler (Posted 5/25/25)

New York may be a remarkable metropolis, but it’s not without its natural wonders. One of the most impressive is the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, a 52-acre garden next door to the Brooklyn Museum at 150 Eastern Parkway. BBG opened in May 1911 — and it’s been a stunning refuge for city residents ever since.

Claude Monet called his garden “my most beautiful masterpiece.” New Yorkers view BBG as an urban masterwork.

BBG houses more than 14,000 varieties of plants. Its specialty gardens are among its most popular attractions, including the Bluebell Wood, Cranford Rose Garden, Tree Peony Collection, Shakespeare Garden and Daffodil Hill.

To truly appreciate its gardens in peak bloom and other highlights of the season, a free walk is organized by Garden Guides June 11-19, 1-2 p.m. Meet on Magnolia Plaza by the building steps.

Bird lovers can find herons, egrets hunting koi, cormorants, mallards and sometimes kingfishers in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. Butterflies, red-tailed hawks, woodpeckers and sapsuckers fly overhead.

But on June 20, the gardens offer a unique musical interlude. Summer Solstice at BBG: Sunrise Performance: 5:15–6 a.m.; Sunset Performance: 8:30–10 p.m., held on the Cherry Esplanade.

Welcome the longest day of the year with a transformative sunrise experience. Join composer/saxophonist Matthew Evan Taylor, accompanied by Metropolis Ensemble’s chamber orchestra, for a guided musical meditation. Inspired by Taylor’s AfroPneumatic series, Afropneuma. Become part of a communal soundscape.

Enjoy sunset with Erik Hall’s reimagining of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, a sensation of electric guitars, basses, synths, and voices, with Metropolis, Erik Hall, and the electric guitar quartet Dither.

Bluebell Wood

Eleven days later is Jazz in July, every Thursdays in July 6-8 p.m. with BBG admission. Stretch out on the lawn and take advantage of the pop-up bar. Check the BBG site for the musical lineup in June.

Solstice Info:
Entrance: 990 Washington Ave, Brooklyn
Admission before 10 a.m. and after 7:30 p.m
Subways: 2/3 to Eastern Parkway—Brooklyn Museum or 4/5 to Franklin Avenue
Tickets