Discover Herbs at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

If you’ve recently visited a farmers market or have been tending a balcony garden, it’s obvious that this is the year of the tomato. Hot and dry with sporadic downpours are perfect for these prolific plants. Once they’re in season, there’s no stopping them and I find the best way to enjoy them is with a drizzle of simple dressing made from olive oil, fresh basil, and a touch of parsley. Freshly picked herbs are now also at their prime making it the perfect time to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Herb Garden to get some inspiration.

Brooklyn Botanic Herb Garden

So much more than a specimen garden, this Herb Garden in Prospect Park explores the origins, botany, and beauty of edible plants used in the many diverse cultures and culinary traditions that are the lifeblood of neighborhoods surrounding the park. Like the herb garden originally planted by Works Progress Administration laborers in the 1930’s, it is still decorative but utilitarian like a kitchen garden that freely mixes medicinal and culinary herbs, vegetables, berries, fruit trees, and flowers.

In fact, the garden’s new Learning Plaza has a fountain, worktable, and granite sink serving as an open-air classroom where you can learn practical urban food gardening techniques and tips for making sustainable food choices. The garden specifically contains a small orchard, perennial plants, and annual beds as well as a composting area, cold frame, tool shed, overlook pavilion, and trellis systems. Interpretative signage highlights the origins and uses of particular food plants, and the garden curator posts updates and gardening tips for visitors. Plantings are divided into the following regions:

The Americas

Since tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes are ubiquitous in today’s cuisines worldwide, it’s hard to believe that most were introduced from North and South America only a few hundred years ago.

Northern Mediterranean

The quintessential culinary herbs rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano all hail from the northern Mediterranean. Vegetables from this part of the world include plants from the cabbage family as well as carrots, beets, and artichokes.

The Fertile Crescent and Sub-Saharan Africa

A large percentage of the world’s food plants originated in this relatively small region, comprising the modern-day countries of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. From this “cradle of civilization” came grains like wheat, barley, and rye, as well as onions, garlic, lettuce, and many legumes.

East, South, and Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Staples like rice and soybeans as well as several major tropical food crops like taro and sugarcane originated in this vast area ranging from India to the South Pacific.

Hours:

Tuesday–Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday:10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed Mondays

Admission:

Adults $8, seniors (65 and over) & students $4, Children under 12 free

By subway: Take the B or Q to the Prospect Park Station and from here, enter into the Botanic Garden section at 900 Washington Avenue

photo courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden