Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Lightscape is a holiday themed outdoor illuminated trail at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a really fun way to spend an evening there. Having recently evolved from not going to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to becoming a regular for its Cherry Blossoms and Bluebells, Rose Garden, and other exhibits, I was not going to pass up on visiting Lightscape this winter.

This is what the cherry esplanade looked like when we walked in, though we quickly realized we were walking the wrong way on a one way trail!

Starting the right way, the first exhibit we encountered was at their Japanese garden titled Shunkashuto. Light was projected in different spaces across the garden, reflecting in the water against a cloudy sky.

Next up was an exhibit called Hanabi, which had discs up on the trees that were illuminated in varying patterns, colors and rhythms, making for a really fun walk through a brightly colored pathway.

The path then guided us to Windseeds, which had large metal sculptures that looked like the seeds of a dandelion, casting shadows that were as interesting as the sculptures.

We then came across the Lily Pond for Night Lilies, which had brightly lit lilies surrounded by a very beautifully colored Garden.

I now realize that I did not take any blogworthy pictures of A Magical Season, which had light playing off moving mirrors, probably because I was really slowing down my friends with all my picture taking! So we now move on to Light Like Water, which had a disco show in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the shape of a Christmas Tree.

We were then greeted by a flock of neon lit birds with Night Birds –

The Exhibit then challenged us with What If. We knew we were surrounded by lots of living things in a garden, but this one had us do a little bit of a double take as the question took on a life of its own in the dark that could sometimes be a little unsettling with all the lights and images around us.

We moved on to Bloom, which had massive lit flowers that made their presence felt along the Lightscape path.

Neon Tree – which you can see in the background above – was next, and the tree it was on came to life despite the lack of any leaves on it at all.

Paloma had a swarm of birds nestled among the trees, their white light a big change from all the colors that we had gotten used to along the path.

Winter Cathedral was the most instagrammable exhibit by far, and the most crowded! It was impossible to get a picture without any people – which is how I like them – posing for a ton of selfies, which is a skill I have yet to acquire.

We then came upon a section titled the Ghosts, which is a representation of illuminated origami cranes, with cranes being a symbol of hope and healing in Japanese culture.

We were then introduced to light of a different kind, which was real fire! The Fire Garden had what looked like cans that all had fire, and a person sitting by the side to manage it I am sure.

This led to Neon Waves, which took over the entire area in between the other side of the cherry esplanade that we encountered while walking in the wrong way.

And last but not least was World of Color, which had all the trees along the path coming alive with just amazing color palettes along the side of the Neon Waves.

There was one last lighted canopy that we walked under, but the pictures looked better on my phone than they did on screen, so I am going to spare you from them.

All in all another great reason to go back to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden every year!

#gottalovenewyork