Garden Goals: New York's 22 Most-Instagrammed Botanical Gardens and Landscapes

Part of New York State’s special charm is that we are the home to some of the most visionary and important botanical gardens in the world. For homeowners in the Hudson Valley looking to start gardens, these marvels can serve as inspiration for what’s quite attainable on a smaller scale.

While they are pretty to look at, the legendary landscape artist Frederick Law Olmsted, who had a hand in several of the locations on our list below, once said that “…a park is a work of art, as much as a painting or a sculpture. It must have an intrinsic beauty that appeals to the eye, but it must also have a deeper meaning that touches the soul.”

That ethos of uplifting the human spirit with gardening design is a major reason why we do what we do at Wanduring Roots.

The following list of New York’s botanical gardens and landscapes is ranked according to the number of geo-tagged photos have been taken at each location since Instagram launched in 2010.

1. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

574,805 Photos
Brooklyn, NY

First designated in 1897 by an act of the New York State government, Brooklyn’s Botanic Garden takes the number one spot on our list. One of the oldest highlights is the Native Flora Garden, established in 1911, which only displays plants growing within a 100 mile radius of New York City.

2. New York Botanical Garden

563,917 Photos
Bronx, NY

Established in 1891, the New York Botanical Garden has 40 yards of woodlands, a rock garden, and currently has a fun Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland exhibit that highlight Victorian-style gardens.

3. Old Westbury Gardens

72,919 Photos
Old Westbury, NY

Opened in 1959 as a non-profit, Old Westbury Gardens on Long Island features English-style perennials and biennials like foxgloves, delphiniums and more.

4. Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park

49,335 Photos
Oyster Bay, NY

Designed by the Olmsted Brothers, Planting Fields surrounds the Tudor-style mansion Coe Hall, and is home to a greenhouse with an extensive collection of hibiscus, orchids, succulents, and seasonal plants.

5. Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens

40,555 Photos
Buffalo, NY

Another product of Olmsted, the Buffalo and Erie Botanical Gardens feature a number of “Original Olmsted Trees” that are now over 150 years old, including a European beech, copper beaches, and a bald cypress.

6. Highland Park

30,406 Photos
Rochester, NY

Highland Park is considered one of the oldest “tree gardens” in the United States, and features a Japanese maple collection, magnolias, rhodedendrons, azaleas, lilac shrubs, and a number of tree species from around the world.

7. Kissena Park

20,326 Photos
Flushing, NY

Kissena Park has long been one of the horticultural powerhouses of the northeastern United States; it’s believed that they were the first importers of japanese maple (and their co-conspirator the spotted lanternfly) in the late 1800s.

8. Innisfree Garden

11,645 Photos
Millbrook, NY

Opened in 1960, Innisfree fuses Modernist, Romantic, Chinese and Japanese garden design principles, inventing the term “cup gardens” to describe intense focal points in the gardens. Innisfree is one of a few mid-Hudson Valley locations our list!

9. Cornell Botanic Gardens

13,394 Photos
Ithaca, NY

Photo by @cornellbotanicgardens, ©Jay Potter

Home to the Mundy Wildflower Garden, the Cornell Botanic Gardens are known for early spring-blooming wildflowers like trout lily, marsh marigold, trillium and skunk cabbage.