4 Boston Gardens to Visit in Spring

Start your springtime tour of Boston’s green spaces at the beloved Boston Common. Founded in 1634, Boston Common is the oldest public park in the USA. This expansive green space at the heart of the city was wrested from the British and reclaimed by Bostonians in 1776. The park was also the backdrop to defining speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II. Today, locals flock to Boston Common to picnic on its shady lawn, watch a softball game or begin a long and fascinating walk on the Freedom Trail, a four-kilometer route to 16 key historic sites.

Perhaps the most popular of all the city’s gardens, the Boston Public Garden bursts into bloom every spring with a beautiful display of tulips and roses. Peaceful paths weave their way through Victorian-inspired flowerbeds beneath towering oak, ginkgo, maple and beech trees. The highlight of a visit to the USA’s oldest public botanical garden, which was established in 1837, is a ride on the famous Swan Boats, which have been ferrying nature lovers through the gardens since 1877. Visit between early April and late September to hop aboard a boat cruise through this green oasis.

A visit to the Arnold Arboretum is a must for botany enthusiasts. Part of Harvard University, the arboretum is known for its comprehensive and well-documented plant collection, some specimens dating to its founding in 1872, and offers ready access to a plethora of garden experts. Spend an afternoon discovering more than 15,000 trees, shrubs and vines that sprawl out across this nearly 114-hectare area. If you’re not sure where to start, join a free guided tour, offered mid-April to November.

The Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses at Wellesley College Botanic Gardens encompass 16 greenhouses spanning nearly 670 square meters, allowing visitors to experience plant life from the deserts of Mexico and Africa to the rainforests of Malaysia and Brazil, all in one place. Look for the 130-year-old Durant camellia or explore the aerated pools in the Hydrophyte House, where a range of water-loving plants, such as mangroves and papyrus, grow.