As the weather improves, you may have a more and more difficult time focusing on your work in the lab. Here’s a bit of advice for dealing with the yearning to be outside, in the sunshine, among trees and flowers: give in! And I recommend a field trip this month to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

I visited the garden recently to see the annual orchid show, which is spectacular. Unfortunately, this winter show closes on April 2, just after this issue of Natural Selections comes out in print. Keep it in mind for next year. As I walked through the bizarre and gorgeous orchid forms I was reminded of the spectacular variety of organisms that sparked my interest in biology. Orchids are insect pollinated, and the great variety of their blooms stems from co-evolution with their pollinators. The flowers employ all sorts of tricks to lure specific pollinators into their blossoms. We learned many of these strategies in our plant biology courses, but to see the variations in bloom is to understand the amazing power of selective pressure.

Luckily, the botanical garden is more than the orchid show, and in mid-March many of the spring flowers were in bud, though not yet in bloom. By early April, the magnolia and cherry trees will be spectacular. There are areas dedicated to both of these flowering trees, as well as daffodils, tulips, and azaleas. The botanical garden’s grounds are extensive—250 acres—including an interactive children’s garden, and a beautiful glass-enclosed conservatory for tropical and desert plants.

The New York Botanical Garden is also an active research institution with 25 staff scientists and a graduate program. In the library, there is a small exhibition about biology research that is quite different from what we do at Rockefeller, with the possible exception of the Chua Lab. Many of the gardens’ labs do field collection in exotic locations, and the gardens’ work centers around conservation. Because so many molecular biologists started out as child naturalists, learning about the research at the botanical garden gives a glimpse of an intellectual path not taken.

If your outer borough travels take you south, the trees of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden also put on quite a show in the spring. There is a Cherry Blossom Festival on April 29 and 30 celebrating the beautiful blooms and Japanese culture. If you’re interested in viewing the cherry blossoms at their peak, you can track their progress on the blossom status map at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website (http://www.bbg.org/exp/cherries/map.html)—useful, as the cherry trees can be unpredictable. The garden also has an area dedicated to magnolias and, in Brooklyn style, a how-to section on home composting. The Brooklyn garden is about one-fifth the size of the New York Botanical Garden, but is a well-laid-out peaceful spot.

It is certainly worth taking a day to enjoy the warming weather among the flowers of either of these gardens. The delicate, fleeting days of spring are calling for you to put down your pipetman, pack a picnic lunch, and get outside!

Logistical Details:

New York Botanical Garden (Bronx)

Directions: Take the D or 4 train out to the Bedford Park Boulevard stop. Follow the signs east to the garden, approximately eight long blocks from the D, slightly further from the 4. Or take a Metro North train from Grand Central Station, 22 minutes to the Botanical Garden station. These trains run once an hour on the weekends—check the MTA website for the schedule.

Admission: Admission to the grounds costs $6 for adults, $2 for students, and $1 for children. Tickets to special exhibits, including the interactive children’s garden, are sold separately, or as a more expensive combination ticket. The MTA sells “one-day getaway” tickets with combined rail travel and admission.

Hours: From April to October the gardens are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Website: www.nybg.org

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Directions: Take the Q train to the Prospect Park Station or the 2 or 3 train to Eastern Parkway Station. The garden is on the northeast corner of Prospect Park.

Admission: $5 for adults, $3 for students; children under 16 are admitted free.

Hours: From April to October the garden is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Website: www.bbg.org