HOW DID I END UP HERE? BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN

Photo Credit: Chante/VySyn Photography

I finally made it to Sunday brunch at the Elberta Restaurant on Flatbush Avenue - southern cuisine with a flair. I'm a sucker for a good plate of biscuits and gravy - Elberta's was certainly on point!

I truly hope that this place becomes the go-to spot for comfort food in the post-Barclay district era. This restaurant offers a tasty menu, cozy cocktails ($5 mimosas was what I needed) and special events (Bayou Shrimp Tuesdays, Lobster Fest Wednesdays & Groove Fridays featuring live music). Kudos to the staff and chef (Robert Carlino!).

Photo Credit: Elberta Restaurant - Yelp

After filling up my belly at Elberta's, I strolled through the Grand Army Plaza arch then headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens on a whim. This is when my day got even more interesting.

The last time that I visited the garden was at last year's cherry blossoms event - the Annual Spring Sakura Matsuri Festival. After I began venturing through the garden like a kid in a candy store, I came across the rose garden. I simply love this part of the park. There were rows and rows of roses in bloom - see the above picture. I had to smell every single one!

Adjacent to the rose garden, is the Shakespeare garden. To me, this is the most creative exhibition of nature - combining literary prose with the very same beauty of nature of which the prose helped inspire. Curated by Anne O'Nell, this garden boasts over 80 flowers, shrubs and trees that appear in his works as quotes by Shakespeare cascade throughout the garden.

Before nature embraces winter, checking out this garden should be on your to-do list. :)

Photo Credit: Chante/VySyn Photography

“Like the lily,  That once was mistress of the field and flourish’d,  I’ll hang my head and perish.”  Henry VIII (3.1.168-70)
-Chante