Across the road from the zoo's main entrance is the back turnstile of the New York Botanical Gardens , incorporated in 1891, which in their southernmost reaches are as wild as anything you're likely to see upstate. Its scientific facilities include a museum, library, herbarium, and a research laboratory. Further north near the main entrance are more cultivated stretches. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory , a landmark, turn-of-the-nineteenth-century crystal palace, showcases jungle and desert ecosystems, a palm court and a fern forest, among other seasonal displays.

A major attraction at this 52-acre botanic garden, one of the finest in the country, is the beguiling Japanese Garden -- complete with a blazing red torii gate and a pond laid out in the shape of the Chinese character for "heart." The Japanese cherry arbor here turns into a breathtaking cloud of pink every spring, and the Cherry Blossom Festival is perhaps the park's most popular weekend event. You can also wander through the Cranford Rose Garden (5,000 bushes, 1,200 varieties); the Fragrance Garden, designed especially for the blind; the Shakespeare Garden, featuring more than 80 plants immortalized by the Bard (including many kinds of roses); and Celebrity Path, Brooklyn's answer to Hollywood's Walk of Fame, with the names of famous New Yorkers -- including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Mary Tyler Moore, Barbra Streisand, Mae West, and Maurice Sendak -- inscribed on stepping-stones.

Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; $3, $2 seniors and students, 3-12 $1, free on Wed, parking $5; tel 718/817-8700, www.nybg.org. #B or #D train to Bedford Park Blvd.

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