Take a mini-vacation right in your own backyard! NJBG invites you to pack up the whole family and come enjoy the New Jersey State Botanical Garden in Ringwood State Park, a wonderful place to explore nature and the great outdoors without leaving home.

Nestled in the Ramapo Mountains, the New Jersey State Botanical Garden is less than a half hour’s drive from most places in northern New Jersey and southern New York. The Botanical Garden, which appears on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places, is open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day, and admission to the Garden is always free. Summer parking is free on weekdays, and $5 per car on summer weekends and holidays thru Labor Day.

For plant-lovers, painters, photographers and casual strollers, the Botanical Garden offers elegant and colorful formal gardens to wander. For hikers there are hundreds of acres of woodlands laced with shady paths and trails. Mountain bikers have their favorite trails as well, and birders delight in the multitude of winged residents at the Garden.

Got some kids to entertain? Youngsters love the big, broad lawns to run on, as well as steppingstone bridges and ponds filled with frogs, ducks and other native animals. Try your hand at NJBG’s scavenger hunt or see if you can find all the planets in the scale-model Solar System.

NJBG, the member support group for the Botanical Garden, also has many public programs and events planned for this summer, including a seven-part concert series on Friday evenings, free guided garden tours every Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm, family woodland walks once a month, and a Craft Fair on August 7. For a complete calendar of events, please visit www.njbg.org

Please be sure to leave your pets, balls, frisbees and lawn games at home, as they’re not allowed in the Botanical Garden. Picnics are also not permitted, but there are many options for both casual and fine dining in Ringwood, Oakland and other surrounding communities.