New Orleans Botanical Garden

Please indulge me for a minute or so as I set the scene. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was initially published in serial in 1911 and as a book in its entirety in 1912 and without spoiling the plot entirely has a secret walled off garden that is locked and has been left to go to seed. The garden is magical because no one seems to want to mention the circumstances behind it. You may wonder why I bring this up. The Botanical Garden is not walled off, nor is it not maintained or not cared for. It is carefully curated and amazing. The Gardens are perfectly maintained and exquisitely cared for. It is home to many events ranging from the centerpiece of the Celebration in the Oaks, a Christmas lights display to in the summer having Lark in the Park, evening concerts, fancy events, weddings and oh so much more. Most recently, home to the China Lights traveling display.
The conservatory has plants still living from the dinosaur age and rain forest plants. The gardens are varied as you walk through and are magical and will be transported to another place. This place is truly magical. I love the peaceful atmosphere and would want to experience a wedding, or be proposed to here. It is romantic and feeds the seeds of the soul to see. Despite the crowds that may occur during the peak events, this is something that can not be missed.
There is a special train section that is a raised (just waist level on myself) and has trains going throughout, a New Orleans style street car) and the tracks are winding through mock set ups of the more well known neighborhoods of New Orleans that will set your imagination free, photos of historical areas in New Orleans and a brief history of the street cars. Amazing.
Located in City Park, it makes it easy to include this in your day (or multiple days seeing the amount of things to do and see all in the same area) trip to also visit Story Land, the amusement rides, miniature golf, beignets, New Orleans Museum of Art, and a walk in the park. There are many places to eat or sit and have a coffee outside of the Gardens, but this is definitely on my list of things to recommend to others to do, whether a local playing a visitor or someone from out of town. Just come and enjoy a day away from the Quarter and its sirens call.

Very very small garden. Nothing to see, nothing to do! Do not waste your time and money! Better walk the free-​of-​charge big city park around

October 2015
I spend about an hour there just rambling through the different paths and gardens. I was so mesmerized by the Lilly pad pond, that I probably took 50 pictures of it. Also, there was a small hummingbird, butterfly garden that I walked through. The conservatory was warm, lush green with tropical plants and plants from the dinosaur age.

I attended a Wedding in January at the Botanical Garden which was absolutely beautiful. A bit cold that time of year, the venue brought out Patio Propane Heaters.
The reception hall all was large, and well maintained.
However, everything else, as it regards the actual wedding event planning; food, décor, lighting, and such will not be discussed as I’m sure that service has everything to do with the wedding budget.

Oh my, this Botanical Garden is so huge and impressive! We spent a good 3 – 4 hours here and didn’t even realize it. The gardens are meticulous and gorgeous. It’s obvious a lot of time, effort, and care goes into them. There’s an amazing variety of botanicals, indoor and outdoor. My favorites were the orchids and the water gardens with big lily pads. Don’t forget to bring sunglasses/​hat, sunscreen, and water so you can enjoy the outdoor stroll in comfort.

It was a beautiful garden and the staff made it even better. One employee gave me his umbrella so I could still stroll around the park and not get soaked in the downpour. It was still great to walk around then and I especially loved the tucked away bamboo grove. I’m sure it would be lovely for pictures in the rain with the proper gear, and even better when the weather is clear. It was a perfect afternoon outing for me, calm and beautiful.

I’ve never been to a Botanical Garden before, but boy do I believe this is exactly what the Garden should look like. It was gorgeous — even in the rain. Of course, there were the locals checking out the amazing space for a wedding reception and it was totally merited. The flowers, trees, swings, paths, greenhouse… it was all simply beautiful!

We got there late and they close pretty early. I didn’t get too see too much, but from what I did see it wasn’t anything spectacular. Just a pretty garden. They have seating throughout to stop and take it all in, but we were a little rushed for time. It’s pretty cheap to get in and I think it would be nice for kid’s especially since the entry is free for little ones! I will return on my next visit.

We didn’t stay a long time when we were on the tour but from what i could see it looked like a great park with lots to do. Plus they had some killer beignets, hot and tasty, loved them so much and they were 3 for $ 2. The had a man playing steel drums outside and it sounded cool. Beautiful day.

One thing I really love about the New Orleans Botanical Garden in City Park is how I discover some new random thing every time I go. The original garden was built in the 1930s as a WPA project and much of the main part of the garden retains the original layout. There are a bunch of original art deco sculptures scattered throughout the garden and plenty of places to sit and just enjoy the surroundings. Newer sections of the garden add plenty of interesting areas to explore, including areas that appeal to younger kids (fossils, butterflies and trains are always a hit with preschoolers.) They run a lot of classes and events, including decorating every year for Celebration in the Oaks, running a year-​round kids gardening class, plant sales, and weekly evening concerts in the garden.
Some of the highlights:
The conservatory, which has a rainforest side and a fern side (tip– go all the way to the back in the rainforest side to see a snake and some fish in tanks and check out the fossils and the pool with alligator gar, some of the oldest fish species in the world, in the fern side)
The butterfly garden– includes both nectar plants that attract butterflies and plants that feed caterpillars
The Japanese garden– very pretty and serene
The miniature train garden– maintained by volunteers and has a full G gauge train set and model buildings representing various neighborhoods in Nola
The edible garden– food plants on display (they said that they eventually plan on having an outdoor kitchen and chef-​run cooking demos/​classes)
The rose garden– tea roses in the center and native roses all along the edges
Tip– the City Park membership includes admission to the Botanical Gardens. I have to admit that the first year we had it we didn’t use this particular perk as much –I had the erroneous impression that my kid wouldn’t be as interested in plants– but there is LOTS for kids in here. They have special events for members (like tours of the botanical garden) as well as free admission to larger events (the garden show each year and the Christmas display.)

If you’re in town visiting or live here, go to the Friday night concerts. It’s absolutely the most beautiful concert venue you can imagine! It may lead to cartwheels on the lawn at midnight.
The gardens, the statues, the architecture — beautiful.

I love this place and celebration in the oaks. I used to come every year when I was a child and still enjoy storyland 25 years later. It’s a classic in my book and always so well kept and gorgeous.

I enjoyed walking through and seeing the different types of gardens and plants. It was before Halloween so they had a scare crow contest so that was cool to see as well.
They have nice fountains and shaded areas with benches to relax and take it all in. I enjoyed the zen garden and the one with all the porch type swings in it. I definitely could have fallen asleep in those.
Its a nice place to go that is away from the hustle and bustle of downtown new orleans.

Gorgeous gardens! It’s so easy to forget that City Park has many special areas. Additionally, there is something for everyone inside the botanical garden itself. For example: an area for train enthusiasts (also for kiddie birthday parties), a zen rock garden, cactus area, fern area, tropical plant area, lilly pad pond… They also have fun events like the Spring Garden Show and various smaller concerns for the rest of the year.
It’s an overall beautiful place for a wedding with lots of different areas to have your ceremony and reception. There was a wedding today that caused early closure for other patrons. From the sound of it, they are very used to this and are probably very professional about setting up for big events.
High recommendations to visit this area if you’d like to get away from the hustle and bustle of the quarter without having to travel too far. Additionally, you can mosey over to the free sculptor park across the street afterwards then get some beignets and coffee at the old casino too.
Hint: unlimited access comes with buying «friends of the park» membership.

The Botanical Garden, in addition to being the home of beautiful gardens which are well worth a visit, is also home to some other incredible events that are full of true New Orleans style and flair.
First, Celebration in the Oaks. Absolutely beautiful display of lights throughout the gardens, a great place to take the family, a friend, a date, or your own fine self. I went in December 2011 (I’m not sure if the displays change year-​to-​year) and especially loved the streetcar exhibit, the «Cajun Night Before Christmas,» and of course, Mr. Bingle.
Second, live concerts called the Garden Party series. I went to my first such concert last Friday and got to see the Brass-​a-​Holics and Big Sam’s Funky Nation FOR FREE! Yaysers! Best part of this (other than the fabulous music, of course) was that it seemed parts of the gardens were still open and you could walk through and check it out without paying the entrance fee! I didn’t take advantage of this, unfortunately, but there’s always next time since it was such a good time!
I will definitely check this place out for more events and bringing my garden-​fan-​friends here for a visit soon!

The Botanical Gardens is a beautiful place to visit. This afternoon was warm, but not sweltering. Main reason we went was they were holding their annual Spring Garden Show today. The gardens were beautiful, all sorts of plants in bloom. We sat in on a lecture of Louisiana Irises. I became a fan, especially of the newer hybrids. They are beautiful flowers. They put the few I have in my yard to shame. Only problem is that I’ll probably have to wait until the September time frame to buy some for the garden.
The show had plenty of vendors, nurseries, and collectors scattered around the gardens. Needless to say, there were lots of plants for sale. We wandered around, asked a few questions and even learned the name of the bromeliad we had been gifted with a couple of years ago. An enjoyable afternoon.

I attended Lark in the Park with Jen L last month. It’s a fundraising event for Friends of City Park, and a fun event at that.
The Botanical Gardens are beautiful. I originally thought I hadn’t been to the Gardens before, but upon wandering around, found some places that looked familiar… probably from Celebration at the Oaks. Regardless, it was nice to see everything without the Christmas displays, and to check out some places that were probably supposed to be off-​limits (rainforest adventure at 10pm?)
I think this is something that my kiddo would enjoy, so I think a daytime tour of the Botanical Gardens is on my to-​do list.

What a fun night last night in the Botanical Gardens with Jennifer B. Seriously the gardens look gorgeous! All the buildings are looking spot on and I love some of the new sections in the old buildings.
At the fundraiser last night, we were able to tour both the rainforest and the living fossil rooms and they were beautiful… especially by the light of my flashlight app… Maybe we weren’t really supposed to be wandering around those sections in the dark. Oh well.
It is the perfect time to tour the gardens… everything is just beginning to bloom and the weather is gorgeous.

This is in the same area as New Orleans Museum of Art at City Park. My friend and I went to art school but we chose the Botanical Garden over the art museum on a rainy day and I’m glad we did. We had this lovely place to ourselves. Living in Vegas, I’m deprived of greenery and beautiful flowers. Once you get in, you’ll find a room full of ferns (living fossils) and the next room is filled with plants you’ll find in a rain forest.
A grassy path then leads you to this pond with water lilies and a sculpture of a woman riding a fish. This is my favorite spot and the reason why I wanted to come here.
There’s a Japanese garden (I wish they had a koi pond) that made me feel calm and serene. Am I still in New Orleans? Next, you go in a greenhouse filled with succulents. This is also where I got my 4 mosquito bites from and wanted to leave. I breezed through the vegetable/​herb garden and went back to the lily pond.

This is one of those neat places in City Park that’s fun to bring the kids, a camera, a bottle of bubbles, and take pictures. While there are plenty of shady spots, remember to make sure everyone is sun-​screened up including a large slathering on the kids and plenty of liquids.