Discovery Garden


Children and their caregivers learn about the natural world through open-ended exploration and interactive activities in the Discovery Garden. Children are invited to touch and smell incredible plants and experience different habitats: woodland, meadow, farm, wetland, and a nature center where families can dig for worms and investigate natural objects. The Discovery Garden also offers year-round workshops for families, free with garden admission. Workshops are on a drop-in basis and are appropriate for a broad range of ages. Children must be supervised by an adult.

The Discovery Garden offers nature workshops for families, free with Garden admission. Children and their caregivers learn about the natural world through fun activities, plantings, and open-ended exploration. Workshops are offered on a weekly basis from April through October and during February and spring school breaks. Join us next season!

On the Horizon

February Break Discovery Week

February 20–24 | 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Travel the world’s deserts and rain forests with your family inside our conservatories during February break. Children discover amazing plants through hands-on activities and bring home their own plant.

Steinhardt Conservatory | Free Admission


Ashley Gamell

Ashley Gamell is the fifth generation of her family to enjoy the urban oasis that is Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She began working at BBG as a college student teaching the Summer Science Program, and has continued on as a BBG plant educator since then, first in the Children’s Garden, and now in the Discovery Garden. Ashley particularly enjoys creating opportunities for children to connect with edible and native plantings in the Discovery Garden. She also cares for BBG’s unique collection of teaching plants in the Education Greenhouses. As a gardener, educator, and poet, Ashley is always looking for the tiny details that make nature so magical, and loves to share that magic with visitors of all ages.

Photograph by Dave Allen
Photograph by Dave Allen
Ashley Gamell, Discovery Garden coordinator. Photo by Marilyn Smith.
Ashley Gamell, Discovery Garden coordinator. Photo by Marilyn Smith.
Children discover music-making gourds with a Garden apprentice at a harvest workshop. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
Children discover music-making gourds with a Garden apprentice at a harvest workshop. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
February Discovery Workshop. Photo by Rebecca Bullene.
February Discovery Workshop. Photo by Rebecca Bullene.
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    • The ‘Miss Spider’ topiary blooms above the toddler-sized boxwood maze. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Children discover music-making gourds with a Garden apprentice at a harvest workshop. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • A Garden apprentice discovers local birds and their food sources with her sister at a migration workshop. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Kids meander beside the stream looking for wetland plants and insects in early spring. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Kids can find their favorite vegetables growing in the miniature farm in the Discovery Garden. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Siblings experiment with the scales at a science table in the Woodland. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • A family explores the spring bulb display in the Meadow of the Discovery Garden. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
    • During summer, children help water the garden with kid-sized watering cans. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
    • A toddler gets close up to the first spring tulips. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • A volunteer and visitor search for leaf litter critters during Spring Break Discovery Week. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • A family digs for wrigglers in the worm bin. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
    • The Discovery Garden lawn and bridge.
    • A family uses magnifying glasses to explore natural objects at one of the science tables. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Young visitors love to fetch water for the old fashioned hand pump that sends water down a bamboo waterway. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Families make soil paintings, complete with clay worms, at a summer workshop. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
    • Kids navigate the narrow paths and hidden nooks in the Meadow, pictured here in fall. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
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      • A native sassafras tree (<em>Sassafras albidum</em>) shows its fall color behind the thatched birdhouse. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
      • The majestic southern magnolia (<em>Magnolia grandiflora</em>) in bloom. Photo by Nancy Crumley.
      • The weeping mulberry (<em>Morus alba</em>) makes for a great hidden hangout in any season. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
      • Flame-colored butterfly weed (<em>Asclepias tuberosa</em>) blooms and releases its parachute seeds to be carried on the wind. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
      • Kids are invited to feel plants with different textures in the Touch Bed. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
      • Blueberries (<em>Vaccinium corymbosum</em>) are almost ready for children to taste in the Berry Border. Photo by Joanne D’Auria.
      • Fantastical giant onions (<em>Allium species</em>) grace the Meadow in May. Photo by Ashley Gamell.
      • The Meadow in bloom with native wildflowers like licorice-scented anise hyssop (<em>Agastache foeniculum</em>), shiny coneflower (<em>Rudbeckia nitida</em>), and dwarf joe-pye weed (<em>Eupatorium dubium</em>). Photo by Ashley Gamell.
      • Butterfly bushes (<em>Buddleja davidii</em>) attract painted lady butterflies along the Butterfly Border. Photo by Monika Hannemann.
      • <em>Campsis radicans</em> (trumpet vine) blooms along a trellis in the Discovery Garden. Photo by Rebecca Bullene.
      • Children can touch floating water hyacinth (<em>Eichhornia crassipes</em>) and water lettuce (<em>Pistia stratiotes</em>) at the Water Table during summer. Photo by Monika Hannemann.

      Hours

      Tuesday–Friday:
      8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
      Saturday & Sunday:
      10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
      Closed Mondays
      (but open Washington's Birthday,
      10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)

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      Admission

      Members Free
      Adults $10
      Seniors (65 and over) $5
      Students with a valid ID $5
      Children under 12 Free
      Winter Weekdays Free

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      Directions

      900 Washington Avenue
      Brooklyn, NY 11225

      2 train 3 train B train Q train 4 train 5 train S train
      B or Q to Prospect Park
      2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway

      Maps, Parking, and Directions

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