Things to do / Travel Guide
True to Long Island's long-standing reputation for valuing refined aesthetics and attention to beauty, the region's botanical gardens are nothing short of splendid. From Japanese-inspired formal gardens to turn-of-the century British landscaping, Long Island offers something for every plant and flower enthusiast. And whether you are a self-proclaimed tree-hugger, or just like the sights and smells of a leisurely nature walk, Long Island's arboretums should rank on your list of must-visit destinations.
Gardens around Long Island, New York
“Treat the land as a painter would a canvas,” is the governing horticultural philosophy at Madoo Conservancy. Encompassing two acres in Sagaponack, Madoo Conservancy is a unique artist garden featuring eclectic and varicolored outdoor furnishings and archways, careful pruning techniques, and purposeful placement of colorful flowering plants. Much like the sculptor who understands that the raw materials themselves steer the artist's creation, since the 1960s artist Robert Dash has allowed the landscape and topography of Madoo Conservancy to organically guide his artistic botanical work-in-progress.
Take part in a Japanese tea ceremony, stroll amidst bamboo groves, azaleas, and Japanese irises and you'll feel you've traveled much further east than just Long Island. John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden, in Mill Neck, is an exquisite reproduction of authentic Shinto and Buddhist Japanese gardens, which strive to represent Zen precepts and cosmology, and embody the transient beauty inherent in nature's impermanence. You will feel transported to early 20th century Britain at the 160-acre Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury. Situated around a Charles II-style mansion, the gardens include a Primose Path, Rose Garden as well as woodland areas, ponds, and sprawling, luxuriant lawnsThe gardens are generally open May through October, with some special holiday hours in December.
There is nothing like a stroll through a living, green museum. Clark Botanic Garden, in Albertson, is a 12-acre horticultural facility and plant museum with gardens that showcase collections of native spring wildflowers, medicinal plants, butterfly plants, perennials, and others. The gardens are open year-round but have limited winter hours.
Arboretums on Long Island, New York
The Bayard Cutting Arboretum, located along the Connetquot River in Great River, NY, includes more than 690 acres of meadows, centennial oaks, and brightly colored nature walks amidst rhododendron and swamp cypress. Don't miss the arboretum's pinetum - it has one of Long Island's largest collections of fir, spruce, pine, and hemlock.
The Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, in Oyster Bay, offers a dazzling display of plants and trees. Located on 409 acres (nature trails and landscaped terrain), Planting Fields boasts a Synoptic Garden of ornamental shrubs, a dwarf conifer garden, an exotic-plants green house, and a greenhouse with February-blooming Camelias. The open-air gardens and arboretum are open April through September, while the green houses are open year-round.
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