The Queens Botanical Garden, a living museum serving the most ethnically diverse county in the United States, is committed to presenting collections, education and research initiatives and programs that demonstrated environmental stewardship, promote sustainability and celebrate the rich cultural connections between people and plants.

Description:
The Queens Botanical Garden (QBG)a private, non-profit cultural institution is one of the City’s 34 Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) members and has 39 acres of City land under its care. QBG remains dedicated to bringing together plants and people from around the world. Located in the most ethnically diverse county in the United States, the Queens Botanical Garden serves as the primary source of botanical education for children and adults in the borough of Queens. It is proud to offer a Children’s Garden where participants learn to plant, tend, and harvest their own vegetables; demonstration gardens, teaching collections, and varied displays of tulips, roses, chrysanthemums, wildflowers, herbs, and perennials; a community garden where senior citizens tend their own gardens and take home fresh produce; a home compost demonstration site; and environmental education programs that enhance the public schools' science curriculum and offer experiential learning to a new generation of environmentally conscious students. Of equal importance, QBG’s is pleased to provide a calm refuge in the center of urban environment where visitors can meet with friends and family or have a moment of personal reflection in a beautiful gardening setting.

History:
The Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) is a private, non-profit cultural institution that grew from “Gardens on Parade,” a spectacular five-acre exhibit at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair that presented the most innovative botanical displays to be seen at that time. Through the efforts of civic-minded residents, the exhibit was saved and expanded, opening in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in 1948 as the Queens Botanical Garden. The QBG was moved to its current site in the Kissena Park Corridor to make way for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. It is one of the City’s 34 Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) members, and has 39 acres of City land under its care. However, only 18 of these acres have been actively used as a botanical garden, leaving the balance as park-like open space. Now, more than one half century since the Queens Botanical Garden opened its gates to the public, it is poised to develop the entire 39 acres to realize its promising vision—To be the botanical garden noted for presentation of plants as unique expressions of cultural traditions.

Contact people:

Lois Schuman, Manager Of Education, (718) 886-3800 x 230, (email) Audrey Sequeira-Butaney, Director 0f Administration, (718) 886-3800 x 203, (email) Jeannemarie Hendershot, Intern Coordinator, (718) 886-3800 x204, (email)

Address:

43-50 Main Street Flushing, NY 11355 (See a map)

Directions:

Located at 43-50 Main Street, in Flushing, the Queens Botanical Garden is easily reached by the Q44 bus,Q20 or the Q58 bus stops on College Point Blvd. at the rear of the Garden; IRT No. 7 or Long Island. . . (more)   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Main Street,   Walk distance (in minutes): 10   Nearest Bus Stop: Q44/Q20, 1 minute walk