Which botanical gardens have you visited? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
“How I wished that I could come back as a flower. As a flower. To spread the sweetness of love.” (“Come Back As a Flower” by Stevie Wonder)
Can’t you feel the flower power when you stop to smell the roses, tend to the tomatoes in your garden, or talk to your houseplants?
Journeying through the secret life of plants can help to alleviate stress and anxiety. Exploring flora can also unearth our ancestral and spiritual ties to the soil. And historically speaking, the green thumbs of Black folks have elevated some of the country’s most beautiful botanical gardens.
“There is such a powerful connection between African Americans and plants, flowers, and the soil because it is a spiritual one,” says Abra Lee, horticulturist, garden historian, and author of the forthcoming Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country's Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers.
“Our souls are drawn to plants and we are emotionally connected to [them] in a sometimes unexplainable and very personal way.”
To see spring in bloom, here are five botanical gardens with Black roots to visit nationwide.
Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia
(oaklandcemetery.com/)
Overlooking the downtown Atlanta skyline, Oakland Cemetery sits on 48 green acres with Gothic and Victorian architecture, ancient oaks, and Southern heirloom plants like magnolias and camellias. The city’s oldest public park is the final resting place of notable Atlantans, including Maynard Jackson, the city’s first Black mayor, and Marie Woolfolk Taylor, one of the founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
“There is a beautiful restored historic African American section where my team does fabulous work in keeping the gardens tended in this area,” says Abra Lee, Oakland’s director of horticulture.
Check the website for springtime guided tours, family programs, and special events.
New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, NY
nybg.org/
The African American Garden at NYBG’s Edible Academy celebrates the Black experience through the lens of plants.
Curated by Dr. Jessica B. Harris, an expert on foodways of the African Diaspora and author of High on the Hog (adapted into a Netflix series), the garden highlights medicinal and food sources that have sustained Black people in the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
The garden walk was established in 2022 and begins with plants and vegetables that our enslaved African ancestors were brought to America to farm during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – including cotton, rice, tobacco, and sugar cane. It culminates with a bottle tree, often placed in Southern gardens for protection. Poems by Black poets are peppered around the garden’s perimeter, and on select days, celebratory red drinks are available at the hibiscus stand.
Norfolk Botanical Garden in Norfolk, VA
(norfolkbotanicalgarden.org)
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration provided jobs for unemployed Americans. Among the WPA workers were 200 African American women, who in 1938 were paid .25 cents per hour to clear dense vegetation and plant azaleas at Virginia’s most extensive botanical garden.
The 175-acre Norfolk Botanical Garden boasts 60 diverse gardens, including a butterfly garden and a rose garden. A notable cultural attraction is the WPA Memorial Garden near Mirror Lake. It features the sculpture "Breaking Ground,“ which depicts a Black woman tilling soil and commemorates the original Azalea Garden Project.
The lush grounds are perfect for picnics and biking. Reserved tickets are suggested during spring break, when azaleas are in full bloom.
The Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum in Lynchburg, VA
(annespencermuseum.org/)
Although it’s not a botanical garden in the traditional sense, the former home of Harlem Renaissance poet, teacher, civil rights advocate, and ardent gardener Anne Spencer is a must-visit. The Queen Anne-style home in the Pierce Street Renaissance Historic District has been preserved as a historic landmark in Lynchburg and is the only known restored garden of an African American in the United States.
For 72 years, Spencer shared the two-story house with her husband Edward, who lent his imaginative design and engineering touches to the decor and finishings. The Spencer home served as a gathering place for leading African Americans such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, MO
(missouribotanicalgarden.org)
The George Washington Carver Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden pays homage to the trailblazing botanist and Missouri native.
Accessible by a path lined with inspirational inscriptions from Carver’s writings and speeches, the serene garden's focal point is a life-size bronze statue of Carver flanked by plants. Visitors can sit on benches by the reflecting pool and enjoy the lovely landscape with fragrant viburnums, hydrangeas, and holly trees.
The Garden’s herbarium showcases Carver’s contributions to botanical science, agriculture, and education beyond his breakthrough in popularizing the peanut.
Are you inspired to make your home a greener space? Here are five book picks for Black gardeners and plant lovers.
Black Flora: Inspiring Profiles of Floriculture’s New Vanguard by Teresa J. Speight
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy
Do Not Separate Her From Her Garden: Anne Spencer’s Ecopoetics by Carlyn Ena Ferrari
Living Wild: How to Plant Style Your Home and Cultivate Happiness by Hilton Carter
Black Girls Gardening: Empowering Stories and Gardening Wisdom for Healing and Flourishing in Nature by Amber Grossman
Which botanical gardens have you visited? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
