Want Garden Inspo? Stop Scrolling Instagram and Do This Instead
“If only I had a greenhouse, a 1/2-acre English cottage, cutting garden and staff to assist with digging holes, my gardening life would be complete.”
This is how I feel every time I finish scrolling through dreamy garden images on Instagram. And it’s not a good feeling. I’ve been able to put “if only” speculation in my rearview now that I’m older. For example, I no longer connect happiness with losing weight the way I did when I was younger. But I can’t help but let that voice creep into my brain when I’m drooling over glorious dahlia beds in an influencer’s garden.
One way I combat Insta-envy is to spend less time in virtual gardens and more time in physical ones. And my favorite place to go for actionable garden inspiration is my local botanical garden. I’m fortunate to live within easy reach of one of Travel Channel’s 20 best botanical gardens in the US, the magnificent 250-acre New York Botanical Garden, but there are thousands of them throughout the United States and even more worldwide. A quick Google search for “botanical gardens near me” will reveal your local gems.
Why a Garden Visit Will Make You Feel Better
It’s well known that the act of gardening is a proven way to improve your physical and mental well-being. Garden visits also offer a range of health benefits, including:
Inspiration
Wandering through different garden spaces triggers creativity. I like to see how different colors, shapes and textures work together. It’s a richer experience to see gardens in person than to look at them in photographs.
Exercise
Botanical gardens have well-maintained trails so they are wonderful places to get in an outdoor walk. A stroll in fresh air with sunshine on your face is an immediate mood booster.
Social Engagement
A visit to a botanical garden is a nice way to engage with pleasant people who share a common interest. This is a terrific way to combat feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Continuing Ed
Botanical gardens offer multi-session courses and workshops to help you learn more about the wonderful world of plants. Learning new things helps to keep you mentally sharp.
De-Stress
Gardens are a serene oasis. The NYBG is minutes from the heart of Manhattan but feels a world away. I turn off my phone and tune into the sound of wind rustling through tree leaves, birdsong and playful laughter coming from the children’s garden.
Advice for Visiting Your Local Botanical Garden
If you’re visiting your botanical garden for the first time, these tips can help you have a rewarding experience, so you’ll be excited to return.
Choose the Right Day/Time
Weekends can be crowded so a mid-week visit is preferable. During the warm summer months, you’ll want to visit in the morning when it’s cooler.
Make a Plan
Download a garden map and highlight the areas that interest you the most. Visit these first, then, if you still have the energy, head off to explore other exhibits.
Prep for a Hike
Most of your day will be spent outdoors so take the precautions you would if you were heading out for a walk in the woods. Bring water, wear sunscreen and pack a snack to stave off hunger pangs.
Check the Garden Calendar
Daily events, including guided tours, are featured on garden calendars. Some of these may require advance reservations and additional fees.
Bring a Fully Charged Phone or Camera
You’ll take mental pictures as you wander the garden, but, let’s face it, our memories aren’t what they used to be. Photos are a wonderful way to capture inspiration you can refer back to when you’re home.
Go to the Gift Shop
Garden gift shops are packed with delightful treasures. I’ve purchased live plants, unique seeds, gorgeous coffee table books and floral home fragrances. Some I’ve gifted; others I’ve kept as treats for myself.
Take a Break
Don’t hesitate to sit and rest when you need to. Find a bench, ride the tram if one’s available or find a snack shop and take a tea or coffee break.
I had such a lovely time after my first visit to NYBG, I purchased a membership as an incentive to visit often. My membership comes with many perks including free entry, reduced parking fees and discounts on gift shop and restaurant purchases. If your local garden offers a membership, it’s worth researching.
When you return home from your garden visit, set aside time to review your photographs. I always forget to capture the plant identification tags in my pictures because I’m concentrating on the pretty flowers and colors. If you’re like me, there are several plant identification apps to help you put names to blooms as you plan your next gardening project.
Read Thinking About Starting a Garden? Learn from My Mistakes and Successes!
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What is your favorite flower to grow? Do you have physical challenges that make gardening difficult for you? Do you consider yourself a rookie, intermediate or advanced gardener?
Tags Gardening
Very useful article! I live in a city with both a botanical garden and a “study” garden. But I also visit gardens when I travel. I’ve seen so many interesting gardens in different cities and countries.
What are some of your favorites? I’m making a list to help me plan future trips.
I really enjoy the New York Botanical gardens. My daughter lives in Denver Co. and the botanical garden there is worth a visit!
In Vienna, I enjoy the University Botanical Garden, the Botanical Garden at Schloss Schoenbrunn, and the Hirschstetten Botanical Garden. Love the New York Botanical Garden (in the Bronx) and enjoyed my visit to RHS Garden Harlow Carr when I visited the UK.
For me, Youtube has been both inspiring and educational. I’m in a new build with no arable soil, so Ben Vanheems (garden planner!), Joel Karsten, and the millennial gardener have me started on a straw bale garden with lots of experienced advisors. For natives we have lots of resources in the US PNW and I’ve already planted several around the lot perimeter with more coming in February. Instagram? like FB, empty of useful information.
Thanks for directing me to these YouTube gardeners. I’ll check them out. Best of luck with your new garden! That’s a very exciting project!
Great ideas for putting out of reach dreams in perspective, thank you! I also long for an English cottage garden but lately have become more practical by collecting more native plants and flowers in many pots on my patio. It’s not my dream but it’s so manageable and doable with added delights of watching birds and bees and butterflies who love them. For added inspiration I’m lucky to have the Dallas and Fort Worth botanic gardens nearby plus an innovative garden striving to use native Texas plants to create the English garden feel (Weston Gardens). They definitely deserve admiration!
Thanks again for your great suggestions!
I love pots too! I assume you don’t have to worry about frost in Texas so you can leave them outdoors year round. I can’t pull my car into my garage because I need to bring in all of my terracotta to over winter, lol. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this great article. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have some wonderful botanical gardens. One is in Berkeley. It was started during the New Deal era and has lots of stone structures built by WPA workers. It has many native plants and flowers. Another is the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, which has sections representing many parts of the world. I also discovered something special this year in my own garden. I planted many, many paper white bulbs. My garden is glowing with clusters of this white narcissus, the first bulbs of spring that bloom here in January. They smell so sweet and brighten my world.
How wonderful to have paperwhites in the garden! We’re Zone 6a so I can’t grow them outdoors here. But I love to force them to enjoy them inside. Thanks for sharing.
Much smaller than NYC, but Boise has a botanical garden with a history. Located behind an old prison complex, it used to be the garden area where the prisoners grew their produce. Now, there are many family activities and gardener classes throughout the year. My photography club visits a couple times a year, great photo ops there!
A prison garden? I can picture it in my head but I’d love to see it in person. Thanks for sharing this info.