The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden located in Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It was created in 1891 and is situated on a 250-acre (100 ha) site. This area includes a landscape with over one million living plants, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, which is a greenhouse with different habitats, and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, which holds one of the world's largest collections of books about plants. As of 2016, more than one million people visit the New York Botanical Garden each year.

The NYBG is also an important educational institution. It teaches visitors about plant science, ecology, and healthy eating through interactive programs. Nearly 90,000 of the yearly visitors are children from areas that need more help. Additionally, about 3,000 teachers from New York City's public schools attend professional development programs to learn how to teach science at all grade levels. The NYBG runs one of the world's largest programs for plant research and conservation.

The NYBG was created in 1891, and the first buildings on the site opened by the end of that decade. Since 1967, the garden has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Several buildings on the grounds are also official New York City landmarks.

History

In 1877, people in New York City began discussing the idea of building a botanical garden. At that time, they could not get enough money to start the project, but their work helped set aside land for future use. By 1888, the Torrey Botanical Society was working to build a large botanical garden in New York City. The garden was created after a fundraising campaign led by the Torrey Botanical Society and Columbia University botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton and his wife, Elizabeth Gertrude Britton. They wanted to copy the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.

In 1889, members of the Torrey Botanical Society decided to build the garden in Bronx Park, which is in the Bronx, New York City’s northernmost borough. The Lorillard family owned most of the land there. The city had already received permission to buy the land as part of the 1884 New Parks Act, which aimed to protect areas that would become part of New York City. Between 1888 and 1889, the city acquired about 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land around the Lorillard estate as part of Bronx Park.

On April 28, 1891, the New York Botanical Garden was officially established by an act of the New York State Legislature. The garden used part of the Lorillard estate and a parcel of land that had once been part of St. John’s College (now Fordham University). This land included three graves from Fordham University Cemetery, which were moved. The purpose of the law was to create and manage the garden.

According to the law, a board of directors would oversee the garden. The board included Columbia College’s president and professors of biology, chemistry, and geology; the presidents of the Torrey Society, New York City Board of Education, and the Department of Public Parks; the mayor of New York City; and nine other elected members. The law gave the garden 250 acres (100 ha) in Bronx Park and allowed the board to build a library and conservatory if at least $250,000 was raised within five years. If this goal was met, the city would issue $0.5 million in bonds. The main leaders of the garden’s new organization were Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan, with Nathaniel Lord Britton as the new secretary.

Prominent leaders and financiers, including Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Morgan, agreed to match the city’s financial commitment. By May 1895, the $250,000 in bonds had been raised, but plans were not fully confirmed. The board then asked landscape architect Calvert Vaux and his partner, Parks Superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr., to help choose a site. The north end of Bronx Park was chosen as the best location for the garden. By August 1895, architects began surveying the site. Because the Bronx River and small streams ran through the park, drainage was a major concern. Vaux’s initial plan was approved in October 1895, but he died the following month. The topographical survey was completed in March 1896. A team including Britton & Parsons, landscape engineer John R. Brinley, landscape gardener Samuel Henshaw, botanist Lucien Marcus Underwood, and architects Robert W. Gibson and Lincoln Pierson (from the firm Lord & Burnham) created the master plan.

The LuEsther T. Mertz Library and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory were among the first buildings at the NYBG to open. The Library was built between 1897 and 1900, and the Conservatory was built around the same time, finishing in 1902.

For more than 100 years after it opened, the NYBG did not charge admission. However, because of this and a lack of government and private funding, its budget started to decline in the 1950s. After the city reduced the NYBG’s budget in 1970, the garden had to close for 3 to 4 days a week, and officials worried it might close permanently. In 1974, for the first time in its history, the garden had to ask the New York State Legislature for money each year. That year, the NYBG announced plans to renovate the conservatory and add a building to display plants in different habitats. The next year, budget cuts linked to the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis caused the garden to close on weekdays for the first time.

In 1988, the NYBG announced plans to renovate its museum building and add a new annex, which was expected to open in 1991. By the early 1990s, the garden’s facilities were in poor condition. Parking lots could not handle all visitors, and many areas were neglected, except for the 40 acres around the conservatory. A wetland formed accidentally due to a broken sewer. In 1994, Fordham University proposed building a 480-foot-tall (150 m) radio tower near the Haupt Conservatory, which caused a dispute. The issue was resolved in 2002 when Montefiore Medical Center offered to move the tower to its own facilities.

By the mid-1990s, the NYBG began making improvements to reverse years of neglect. In 1994, the garden started charging admission to fund these changes and maintain existing facilities. The Everett Children’s Garden opened in mid-1998. By 2000, the NYBG requested $300 million for renovations, including a new gift shop, greenhouse, and road improvements. A new visitor center and gift shop were planned to replace temporary facilities built in 1990. The main entrance, which included a gift shop, bookstore, plaza, restrooms, café, and information kiosks, was completed in 2004 at a cost of $21 million. The library annex was delayed to 2000, with construction starting in 1998 and opening in 2002 as the International Plant Science Center.

In 2000, the NYBG began a $300 million renovation campaign after the city donated $22 million. The International Plant Science Center reopened in 2002 after renovations. Other projects and programs were completed in the 20

Grounds

The Garden has 50 different gardens and plant collections. It includes a calm waterfall, wetlands, and a 50-acre (20 ha) area of ancient, never-logged New York forest.

Highlights include the 1890s-vintage Haupt Conservatory, designed by Lord & Burnham; the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, originally created by Beatrix Jones Farrand in 1916; an alpine rock garden, designed and installed by Thomas H. Everett in the 1930s; an Herb Garden, designed by Penelope Hobhouse; and a 37-acre (15 ha) conifer collection. The NYBG's research facilities include a propagation center, a library with 550,000 volumes, and an herbarium with 7.2 to 7.8 million plant specimens dating back more than 300 years, one of the largest in the world.

At the center of the Garden is the Thain Family Forest, an ancient forest. It is the largest remaining part of the original forest that covered New York City before European settlers arrived in the 17th century. The forest, never logged, contains oaks, American beeches, cherry, birch, tulip, and white ash trees, some over 200 years old.

The forest is divided by the Bronx River, the only freshwater river in New York City. This section of the river includes a canyon and rapids. Along the river's edge is the Stone Mill, previously called the Lorillard Snuff Mill, built in 1840. Sculptor Charles Tefft created the Fountain of Life on the grounds in 1905.

The Ladies' Border, originally planned by the Women's Auxiliary Committee in the 1920s, was designed by Ellen Shipman and built between 1931 and 1933. It is a sheltered area measuring 30 by 300 feet (9.1 by 91.4 m), near the Haupt Conservatory. In 2000, Lynden B. Miller redesigned the area. The Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden was created in the 1970s by Dan Kiley and redesigned by Miller in the 1980s and again in 2003.

The Pfizer Plant Research Laboratory, named for Pfizer, is a two-story, 28,000-square-foot (2,600 m²) research building that opened in 2006. It studies plant genomics, molecular systematics, plant use in New York City's immigrant communities, and how plants create neurotoxins. The building has nine labs, including one with robotic workstations on the second floor. Genomic DNA from many species is collected to create a library of plant DNA. This collection is stored in 20 freezers, holding millions of specimens, including rare, endangered, or extinct species.

Founded in 1899 and named after supporter LuEsther Mertz, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library is in the northern part of the NYBG. A 2002 New York Times article reported the library had 775,000 items and 6.5 million plant specimens, while a 2014 NYBG book stated it had 550,000 physical volumes and 1,800 journal titles. As of 2016, the library still held one of the world's largest botany-related text collections. The library is in a building formerly called the Museum Building or Administration Building, constructed from 1897 to 1900 and designed by Robert W. Gibson in the Renaissance Revival style.

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, named after Enid A. Haupt, is a greenhouse near the western end of the NYBG. It was designed by Lord and Burnham Co., modeled after the Palm House at the Royal Botanic Garden and Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in Italian Renaissance style. Groundbreaking began on January 3, 1899, and the conservatory was completed in 1902 at a cost of $177,000. It was built by John R. Sheehan for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Major renovations occurred in 1935, 1950, 1978, and 1993.

The conservatory displays tropical plants, cacti, desert plants, and rainforest vegetation. In summer, two pools near the conservatory show many types of lotuses and water lilies.

The William & Lynda Steere Herbarium, located in the International Plant Science Center behind the library, has about 7.9 million specimens and is the second-largest herbarium in the world, after the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Founded in 1891, it became a major collection site. In 1895, it added the Columbia College herbarium, including specimens from John Torrey and C. F. Meisner. In 1945, it incorporated the herbaria of the Columbia College of Pharmacy and Princeton University. The herbarium is named after William Steere and his wife Lynda, who funded it in 2002.

The Index Herbariorum code for this botanic garden is NY, used when citing specimens housed there.

Programs

In 2008, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gave the NYBG $572,000 to start a project named TreeBOL, which stands for the Tree Barcode of Life. This project will collect DNA samples from up to 100,000 different tree species worldwide. These samples will help scientists record the variety of plant life and improve the method of using DNA to identify plant species.

A team of 200 employees trains 42 doctoral students at the same time. Since the 1890s, scientists at the NYBG have led about 2,000 trips around the world to collect plants from natural habitats.

In 1932, Thomas H. Everett changed an existing training program into a strong curriculum to teach professional horticulturists. This program was modeled after diploma programs at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew and Edinburgh. The School for Gardeners combined classroom learning with practical work in a two-year, full-time program. Except for a break during and after World War II, the school has trained students continuously since 1932. Now called the School of Professional Horticulture, this officially approved program continues to prepare highly skilled horticulturists for jobs in public and private gardens. After completing the program, students earn The New York Botanical Garden's Diploma in Horticulture.

Exhibitions

The New York Botanical Garden has held public exhibitions throughout its history. In 1992, NYBG started an annual exhibition called the Holiday Train Show, which features model trains running through displays of New York landmarks made from natural materials. In 2002, it introduced The Orchid Show, an annual exhibition showcasing orchid displays and decorated setups with different themes each year. Beginning in 2007, the Garden added an annual fall exhibition of kiku, Japanese chrysanthemums grown in modern and traditional styles.

The New York Botanical Garden has also held large-scale, one-time exhibitions, including: Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art at The New York Botanical Garden (2002), Chihuly at The New York Botanical Garden (2006), Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure (2008), Moore in America: Monumental Sculpture at The New York Botanical Garden (2008–2009), Emily Dickinson's Garden: The Poetry of Flowers (2010), Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra (2011), Monet's Garden (2012), Manolo Valdés: Monumental Sculpture (2012), Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life (2015), Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas (2016), CHIHULY (2017), Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i (2018), Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx (2019), KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature (2021), …things come to thrive…in the shedding…in the molting… by Ebony Patterson (2023), and Van Gogh's Flowers (2025).

Executive leadership

• Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton (1891–1929)
• Elmer D. Merrill (1930–1935)
• Dr. Marshall A. Howe (1935–1936)
• Dr. Henry A. Gleason (served as acting, 1937–1938)
• Dr. William J. Robbins (1938–1958)
• Dr. William C. Steere (1958–1972)
• Dr. Howard S. Irwin (1973–1979)
• James M. Hester (1980–1989)
• Gregory Long (1989–2018)
• Dr. Carrie Rebora Barratt (2018–2020)
• Jennifer Bernstein (2021–current)

Publications

The New York Botanical Garden published The Garden Journal (ISSN 0016-4585) from 1977 to 1990. Since 1931, the garden has been producing the scientific journal, Brittonia.

Landmark status

The New York Botanical Garden was named a National Historic Landmark in 1967. Additionally, three buildings are named as individual New York City landmarks: the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (named in 1973), the LuEsther T. Mertz Library (named in 2009), and the Lorillard Snuff Mill (named in 1966, and it is also listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places).