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Cornell Botanic Gardens

4.6 (31 reviews)

Cornell Botanic Gardens Photos

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Becca D.

Wow what lovely gardens! They are beautifully maintained and quite stunning. I especially enjoyed the herb and flower garden near the main building. All the plants were labeled and many had really interesting facts written underneath. The veggie garden was underwhelming but it looks like many things were just beginning to grow. The welcome center has lots of tables and chairs if you need a rest. The gift shop is cute too. To top it off they are free and parking is free on the weekend.

Melissa S.

If you are looking for a mix of flowers, plants, herbs and trees, this botanical garden is the place to be. It's magical to say the least. Everything has a tag to state what the plant or tree is, which is very helpful. There are ample spots to take beautiful photos. There's also a pavilion nestled back in the trees. It is probably for rent. When you first enter you'll find a building with bathrooms and a gift shop. Best of all - it's free!

Jim R.

We'll worth a visit. The gardens themselves are not overly large but they use the space to its best advantage. There are additional paths in the woods to also explore. Absolutely beautiful displays in various gardens of everything from herbs to flowers to trees, some that you've heard of but just as many that you haven't. You can make a donation for its upkeep - there is no charge to explore the grounds.

Siberian Blugloss.  Don't you know I bought some after this trip! - A photograph of Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla) with small blue flowers and variegated green leaves, taken in a botanical garden setting.
Janet M.

We visited on Mother's Day, which is usually cold and damp, but there was no damper on this visit! The gardens are beautifully laid out and I snapped several photos and made notation of plant names so I could buy the plants for my own gardens. I took much inspiration from their shade garden! I think it took about two hours to stroll the grounds and linger at spots that interested us most. They had the tallest tulips I have ever seen. They looked like goblets! As an aside, the visitor center is clean with nice rest rooms. Always helpful to know!

Cool mural by the shop.
Sara P.

Came here during fall 2020 and this was a perfect outdoor, social distanced, free attraction. If you are a geocacher there are a bunch of cool caches throughout the park so it is a great place to take a beautiful walk and get in some caching. I'm not much of a botanist so I just enjoy finding a nice place to walk, but there are a variety of different areas that seemed to provide something for everyone. There were also a variety of signs and things giving info about the different areas. The pictures of some of the summer flowers were gorgeous, although by the time we visited because of the season some of the areas were starting to die, but they did have some fall plants to fill it in. If you are visiting the Ithaca area and need a fun place to walk around, this is the stop for you!

Joyce L.

This is a free attraction if you're visiting the university. You do have to pay for parking however. I say you can spend an hour here or so. They have tons of herbs. I was hoping to see more colorful flowers but that wasn't the case. Also if you drive here, there's no sign to this place so make sure you google it or map it so you know how to find this place.

Margaret F.

As a Landscape Designer and Horticulturist Botanic Gardens are like my mother ship. We were visiting the Finger Lakes region on vacation with another couple. Generally if there is Botanic Garden nearby when my husband and I vacation we make it part of the trip, so to be with another couple who may have just been humoring me to come with us made me nervous they would be bored as i ooh'd and ahh'd. Turns out that wasnt the case! The herb garden was the hook. What a wonderful garden! One of our group commented it was like Willy Wonkas factory with all scented herbs! It was wonderful how the herb garden was organized by use (cooking, medicinal etc) We honestly spent most of our time there. On the con side, I felt there wasn't a lot to the rest of the gardens, OR maybe it was their way finding signs were lacking.

ZhuZhu L.

This is truly a lovely place. I love garden and this garden is beautifully designed with different varieties of flowers. I saw many people doing portraits here. Parking lot is near by and Cornell dairy bar is also few minutes away.

Joshua B.

We stopped by early this morning to explore the garden. We were really impressed with how well the garden was maintained as well as how many different plants they had. We spent nearly 2 hours exploring the garden and we absolutely enjoyed ourselves.

Art Y.

Excellent place to unwind in long walks among the wooded, peaceful, quiet and restful area. Excellent for reflections.

Monarch butterfly

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6 years ago

It may be hard to find but it is totally worth the search! Beautiful, natural areas and all right in the middle of Cornell Campus.

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Review Highlights - Cornell Botanic Gardens

The best part is that it's only a 5-7 minute walk to the Cornell Dairy Bar for an ice cream treat!

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The Plantsmen - Shaded shrubs

The Plantsmen

(8 reviews)

$$

Outstanding, thorough knowledge of plants and growing conditions in this area, always courteous and…read morepatient.

The Plantsman is a nursery specializing in native plants, with at least 200 varieties, most started…read morefrom their own native seeds or existing stock. They also carry some common garden plants too. Their grounds carry everything from foundational trees and shrubs to easy growing flowers to veggies and fruits. They also have sections organized by Deer Resistant, Veggies, Shade Shrubs, Sun, Partial Shade, Trees, Partial Shade Flowers, etc. It's easy to find your way around, though the staff will gladly help too. I found their nursery to be sizeable but not overwhelming. As someone who is newer to gardening I thought their signage is some of the best I have ever seen- on every plant variety they have a big sign with its common name, genius, zones, size, sun/shade needs, if the plant is native or not, and unique features, along with clear pricing. The signage was useful in making sure the plants would be happy at my home, though all the plants I looked at seemed fairly robust period. I wound up with some shade loving white wood asters, sun loving sunflowers, and brown-eyed susans. While I'm a newbie gardener I think more experienced gardeners would be happy here too given all the options and knowledge at hand. They do have a big commercial/pickup side and offer landscaping and hardscaping services for those who are interested. I thought car parking was easy but I was also visiting towards the end of the end of a day on a weekday.

Home Green Home - Hey! It's the Spork!

Home Green Home

(15 reviews)

$$$

One of my favorite shops in Ithica! First, the plants were so well-taken care of that at first I…read morethought they were fake. There is so much beyond plants here, dried flowers, gifts, random decor, some kitchen stuff, and everything is absolutely adorable. They maximized the store in the most perfect way and it was joy to browse through.

I'm almost never on The Commons anymore, but I had a gift certificate for this store that I needed…read moreto use... so when I was able to get out of work a little early one day recently, I decided to stop for my first visit to Home Green Home. And what a delight it was! It's a really lovely and welcoming shop with plenty of plants, books, meditation or yoga supplies, bedding, prints, and more. With a focus on eco-friendly products, the prices aren't necessarily for the budget conscious, but you can rest assured that the quality is there. The staff here are happy to help, but also let you wander the store without being overly pushy or hovering. I got into a conversation with one of them regarding some of the plants they had available - and she was quite excited to show me a new plant that she had just learned about. I ended up buying a couple plants (among other items), as I had managed to find a cebu blue pothos tucked away upstairs, as well as a white princess philodendron on display downstairs... both of which had been on my plant wishlist for a while. TL;DR. It's probably a good thing that I'm not on The Commons often, because it'd be very easy for me to spend way too much money here (especially on the bedding items, as I'm a sucker for comfy blankets and all that). That said, I'm definitely adding Home Green Home to my list of favorite Ithaca shops. Highly recommend it!

Cornell Botanic Gardens - gardens - Updated May 2026

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