If you’re keen to see the very first green shoots of spring 2022, this is the perfect moment to visit the New York Botanical Garden. While it may feel as if it’s still late winter, here there are already hopeful early signs of spring in bloom. Have a look at our photos of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the month of March, when spring is just starting to make its presence felt and flowers and flowering trees are already in bloom. Added bonus? While you’re there, you can also see the phenomenal annual Orchid Show.
photos of the early spring blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in March
On a crisp bright recent weekday morning, we set out for a visit to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). It’s an easy trip from Manhattan (20 minutes on the Metro North commuter train). And one well worth the visit, despite the cold temperatures. Because for anyone weary of cold and snow, there are already signs of spring in bloom. And it’s only the second week of March!
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All of the promising pastels of spring are already on display here, if you know where to look. Luckily, we had an expert horticulturalist from the NYBG team with us to point out the proof that a new season is almost upon us.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
Here are some of the budding plants and trees you’ll see if you make a trip to the NYBG on a hunt for the first signs of spring this month.
1. Japanese Plum tree.
Near the Mosholu Parkway entrance to the NYBG, you’ll find a Japanese Plum tree with delicate dark pink blooms.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
Our expert guide from the Garden notes that this gorgeous tree is an Asian stone fruit tree variously referred to as a Japanese plum or Japanese apricot in English; ume in Japan; meihua in China; or Prunus mume in botany.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
You’ll find more of the Japanese plum trees throughout the Garden near the Enid Haupt Conservatory (which is where the annual Orchid Show is underway). Their blooms will immediately remind you of another annual rite of spring, sakura. While sakura – the Japanese practice of viewing blossoming trees in spring – is generally associated with cherry trees, it also includes the blooming of the plum trees across Japan.
Our guide notes that the Prunus mume are on view starting in early March, followed by the blooming cherry trees in early April through early May. In New York, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is known for its cherry trees, and many people make an annual pilgrimage there to stroll under the canopy of blossoms. But actually, the NYBG has a greater variety of cherry trees, flowering over a longer period, as well as more individual specimens overall. Just saying. You don’t have to go to Brooklyn to see gorgeous pink blooms this year.
2. Snow Crocuses.
In the same general vicinity as the Japanese plum trees, we saw what we always associate with the very first sign of spring: little white crocuses were just on the cusp of blooming.
Snow crocus is among the early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
Our guide explained that these are called snow crocus, or Crocus chrysanthus. They’re native to the Balkans and Turkey, and they need sun and well-drained soil to come back successfully year after year. (Think gravelly Mediterranean hillside.)
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3. Rock garden irises.
In the same flower bed, we also spotted small purple blooms that we first mistook for crocuses. But we were wrong. These are little irises, Iris reticulata, from a group of species sometimes called “rock garden iris.”
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
Like the crocus, these originated in Southwest Asia, and they are consistently among the first flowers of early spring. Also like a crocus, these need bright, sunny, well-drained conditions to thrive.
4. adonis anurensis.
Even in early March, there are already vibrant yellow blooms to see at the NYBG. We learned that these joyful flowers are Adonis amurensis, a buttercup relative from Northeast Asia.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
This particular plant at the NYBG is a Japanese cultivar that sports extra petals. Our expert guide noted that they’re quite slow-growing plants, so this is actually a “big” plant that has thrived in the garden for many years.
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5. Hellebores.
Continuing our journey, we spotted two different sorts of hellebores, one with a reddish hue and the other a pale white-yellow. At first sight, they reminded us of anemones – a flowering plant in the buttercup family with a similar silhouette.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
Early spring flowers, trees and blooms at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) March 2022. Photo Credit: Dandelion Chandelier.
These hellebores are native to southern Europe and Anatolia, but our guide notes that they do very well in New York. Like many other members of the buttercup family, they are poisonous to mammals. Making them a gardener’s friend, as they are naturally highly repellant to deer. If you’ve ever slaved over a garden only to awaken one morning to find it decimated by nibbling forest animals, you know what a selling point that is. And yes, we’re looking right at you, brown rabbits.
photos with evidence of spring already in bloom at the botanical garden in New York
Those are our photos of what’s in bloom among the trees and flowers in early spring at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Wonders from all over the world that have been cared for and that have thrived, and that now give us hope that better days are coming soon.
There’s never a bad time to visit the Botanical Garden, and if you like being ahead of the crowd, now’s your moment. And while you’re there hunting for springtime, don’t miss the sensational annual Orchid Show, which is on now. Between the pale beauty of the early spring flowers and the vivid display of color at the orchid show, you’ll leave the NYBG feeling that ineffable sense of optimism that only comes with the arrival of spring.
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Pamela Thomas-Graham is the Founder & CEO of Dandelion Chandelier. A Detroit native, she has 3 Harvard degrees and has written 3 mystery novels published by Simon & Schuster. After serving as a senior corporate executive, CEO of CNBC and partner at McKinsey, she now serves on the boards of several tech companies. She loves fashion, Paris, New York, books, contemporary art, running, skiing, coffee, Corgis and violets.
