A dozen of the prettiest botanical gardens to experience in NJ

🌺 Spring is almost here and that means flowers will soon be blooming

🌺 A great day trip is to a botanical garden to see flowers and plants

🌺 Here are 12 of New Jersey's prettiest botanical gardens

Spring is here and it’s a great time of year to take the family, friends, or even just yourself to visit some of the many botanical gardens New Jersey has to offer.

Nothing puts you in the “spring” mood like fresh flowers, herbs, and beautifully manicured gardens.

Here is a list of a dozen of the best botanical gardens in the state.

Cape May County

Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Gardens

111 North Central Avenue, North Wildwood

The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse was built in 1874 and served as a beacon of safety to 19th-century mariners. The lighthouse is open to the public. The English Cottage-style gardens surrounding the lighthouse began in 1986. There are over 170 plant varieties and thousands of individual flowers to marvel at on the property.

The grounds are divided up into different garden areas like shade gardens, herb gardens, and more. Flowers typically bloom from spring to late fall. The best time to visit is early June to mid-July. These gardens are so beautiful, that they’ve been featured in “New Jersey’s Great Gardens,” “The Garden State in Bloom,” and “New Jersey Audubon Magazine.”

Essex County

Brookdale Park Rose Garden

Master Gardeners of Essex County
621A Eagle Rock Avenue
Roseland, NJ 07068

If you love roses, this is the place to visit. There are over 100 varieties of roses at the Essex County Brookdale Park Rose Garden.

“Established in 1959 by the North Jersey Rose Society and the Essex County Parks Commission, the much-loved Rose Garden has been a jewel of Brookdale Park for over sixty years,” according to its website.

The garden is about 15,000 square feet with 25 beds of hybrid tea, floribunda, shrubs, hybrid musk, antique roses, and more. There are over 500 individual rose bushes of nearly 150 different varieties. While peak bloom is in June, there are so many varieties of roses, that something is always in bloom from late May through at least October.

Branch Brook Park

Park Avenue, Lake St, Newark

Home of the cherry blossoms and the Cherry Blossom Festival, Branch Brook Park is bursting with blossoms during the spring.

There is no need to travel to Japan this spring to see cherry blossoms when Branch Brook Park has over 5,300 Japanese cherry blossom trees to enjoy. With a diverse collection of 18 varieties in Branch Brook Park, the cherry blossoms bloom from late March to early April with the peak bloom typically between the second and third week of April.

The annual Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival will be held from April 6-14 with a week-long schedule of events planned that include bike races, runs, walks, crafts, demos, live music, family day, and so much more.

Can’t make it to the festival? You can take part in a historic virtual tour available all season with a free, self-guided tour of all 72 stops.

Mercer County

Grounds for Sculpture

18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton

Grounds for Sculpture is known for its exhibit sculptures, but it is also known for its gardens and arboretum. Landscape construction began in 1989. Since then, over 2,000 trees, representing more than 100 species have been planted. Many are rare and unusual trees.

The Winter Garden is a collection of evergreen and deciduous shrubs that flower in late winter and early spring with fragrant blooms such as Lenten Rose, Witchhazel, and more.

The Pain Garden means just that. Look, but don’t touch. These plants have aggressive spikes or thorns such as trident maple, barberry, and castor-aralia.

The Meadow and Wildflower Berm is seven acres filled with meadow grass and wildflowers. More than 100 bald cypress trees were planted along the main path.

The Fairgrounds Woods contains some of the oldest, largest trees at Grounds for Sculpture. Within the grove of trees is the “Bicycle Beech,” a tree that is estimated to be around 100 years old.

Sayen Park Botanical Garden

155 Hughes Drive, Hamilton

There are more than 1,000 azaleas and nearly 500 rhododendrons under the care of Sayen Gardens groundskeepers, according to Sayen Garden’s horticulturist. During the spring, there is a vibrant display and color with more than 250,000 flowering bulbs, as well as dogwoods, and other flowers. Mother’s Day marks the garden’s annual Azalea Festival. The botanical garden serves as a sanctuary for nature lovers, garden enthusiasts, and history buffs. Enjoy the many walking trails, fish ponds, and gazebos that fill the grounds.

Middlesex County

Frank G. Helyar Woods and Rutgers Gardens

Cook College, Rutgers University, 112 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick

Rutgers Gardens, a 180-acre botanical garden, is one of the few botanical gardens in the state that does not charge admission.

Open all year round, people are invited to visit as often as they want and admire the large collection of plants and gardens, plus natural habitats, and a farmers’ market. The All-America Selections Garden features a collection of annuals, vegetables, and perennials. The Art Rudolph Sun and Shade Garden has many plants that give gardeners inspiration for their own masterpieces. There is also the Bamboo Garden, the Shade Tree Collection, The Pollinator Garden, The Rain Garden, and so many other gardens to check out.

Monmouth County

Deep Cut Gardens

152 Red Hill Road, Middletown

Deep Cut Gardens is part of the Monmouth County Parks System and is dedicated to the home gardener. There are 54 acres of gardens and greenhouses. Their renovated Parterre features 52 varieties of roses with over 180 bushes. The greenhouse is open during regular park hours. There are native plant workshops, plant swaps, and seed swaps available throughout the year, as well.

Morris County

Willowwood Arboretum

300 Longview Road, Chester

The Willowwood Arboretum is New Jersey’s most comprehensive and longest continually operating arboretum. It is open daily, and free to the public.

Within the core garden area surrounding the Tubbs residence are several formal gardens like Pan’s Garden, the Cottage Garden, and the Rosarie. Other gardens to see include Bee Meadow, Conservatory, Cypress Pool, Hacklebarney Field, Hillside Pasture, Lilac Collection, Long Meadow, Orchard, Rockery, Chive Walk, the Winter Garden, and the Woodwalk.

Passaic County

New Jersey Botanical Garden

Ringwood State Park, Morris Road, Ringwood

We certainly can’t do a list of botanical gardens in the state without mentioning the New Jersey Botanical Garden.

It is part of Ringwood State Park, New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, Department of Environmental Protection. Featured gardens include The Perennial Garden, a colorful, floral display that changes with the seasons, The Lilac Garden with over 100 varieties is best seen in the middle of May, and The Italianate Gardens, which is a popular backdrop for wedding photos. Other gardens include the Magnolia Garden, Octagonal Garden, Azalea Garden, Peony Garden, Summer Garden, Wildflower Garden, and the Annual Garden.

Somerset County

Duke Farms

1112 Dukes Parkway West, Somerville

At Duke Farms, there are more than 1,000 acres of land to explore native species, sustainability efforts, and the area’s natural beauty. It’s also home to the famous “Eagle Cam” which allows viewers an up close and personal view into the lives of a pair of bald eagles as they breed, incubate, and raise young.

The Orchid Range houses a subtropical display and a tropical orchid display focusing on plants native to the U.S. The Tropical Orchid Garden is filled with a variety of orchid species from tropical regions. The Subtropical Display is filled with orchids that have evolved in cooler subtropical locations where winter nights fall to 40 degrees.

Cross Estate Gardens

61 Old Jockey Hollow Road, Bernardsville

Cross Estate Gardens is made up of formal and native gardens, a wisteria-covered pergola, and a mountain laurel allee. Large specimen trees such as Silver Maple and Chinese Sequoia can be found on the grounds.

Take a self-guided walk to view the historic trees and learn about their importance to Native Americans and colonists. The walled garden is on two levels and the pergola features 19 stoned columns with blue and white wisteria and male kiwi vines. Other gardens include the lawn garden with native rhododendrons, primroses, and perennials, the fern garden with the dawn redwood on site, as well as the pachysandra beds, and the mountain laurel allee.

A spring plant sale will be held at Cross Estate Gardens on Saturday, May 4.

Garden tours start up again for the 2024 season on Wednesdays.

Union County

Reeves-Reed Arboretum

165 Hobart Avenue, Summit

There are so many gardens to cherish at Reeves-Reed Arboretum. The Azalea Garden was the focal point of the property; the garden that Mrs. Reeves looked out onto each morning, according to the website, and the garden where her daughter was married in 1940.

The Susan Graham Reeves Rose Garden is a traditional symmetrical plan, dedicated to enthusiastic rose growers.

The pond and waterfall at the Richard, Graham, and Susan Reeves Rock Garden are a shady retreat that offers an inviting habitat for birds and garden visitors.

The herb garden is filled with a variety of medicinal, aromatic, and culinary blends.

The Daffodil Bowl is bursting with thousands of daffodils blooming throughout April in its naturalized setting. The daffodils constitute the first major spring display that begins a steady flow of visitors throughout the arboretum’s growing season.

These are just a dozen of the many beautiful botanical gardens and arboretums in New Jersey. It’s not called The Garden State for nothing.

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