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Gardener's Resource Center

The Gardener's Resource Center provides reference services to home gardeners, staff, and the professional horticultural community. It is a convenient access point from which to learn more about all of the Library's collections and about the Garden's plant collections. The Gardener's Resource Center is located on the second floor of the historic McKim, Mead & White Administration Building.


Walk-in Hours

Tuesday–Friday, 1–4:30 p.m.

The Collections

Collections in both the Gardener's Resource Center and Science Library circulate to members.

Books and Serials

The collection consists of over 4,000 books and CD-ROMs and some 200 current serials of general interest encompassing botany, ecology and plant conservation, horticulture, gardening, landscape history, and garden design. Bibliographic records for this collection are available through LINNAEUS, the Library's online catalog.

Vertical Files

The vertical files consist of pamphlets, clippings, photocopies, and other ephemera on over 2,000 subjects related to botany and plant culture.

Nursery and Seed Catalogs

The Gardener's Resource Center maintains a collection of catalogs from over 1,000 suppliers. In addition to current catalogs, there is a small collection of historical catalogs dating to the early part of the 20th century.

Plant Collections Database and Online Search Services

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's plant collections database can be searched at public computer terminals in the Gardener's Resource Center. The Library also provides access to the Andersen Horticultural Library's Plant Information Online and to Online Computer Library Center's FirstSearch reference service.

Gardener's Help Line

GRC staff can answer your gardening and horticulture questions. Ask your questions using this online form.

To expedite answers, the Help Line staff suggests the following:

The Gardener's Help Line can also be reached on Tuesday and Wednesday, 1–4:30 p.m., at 718-623-7270.