Central Park Has a Secret Garden Planted With Every Flower Shakespeare Ever Mentioned

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Somewhere above the 79th Street Transverse, past the stone arch and off the path that most joggers take, there is a garden that almost nobody stumbles across by accident. It has no ticket booth, no gift shop, and no Instagram-famous fountain. What it has is a patch of wild thyme, a bed of rue, and flowers pulled straight from every play William Shakespeare ever wrote.

A Garden Born From a Celebration

The Shakespeare Garden was created in 1916 to mark the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It sits on the west side of Central Park, tucked between Belvedere Castle and the Delacorte Theater — two landmarks that most visitors walk straight past.

The idea behind the garden was simple and a little ambitious: plant every species of flower, herb, and tree that Shakespeare mentioned across his 37 plays and 154 sonnets. That list runs to more than 200 species.

Rosemary. Rue. Oxlip. Cowslip. Wild thyme. Eglantine. Each one comes with a small placard connecting it to the exact line in which Shakespeare named it.

What Shakespeare Noticed About the Natural World

Shakespeare was more interested in plants than most people realize. They appear in his plays more often than battles do. They carry meaning, grief, love, and memory.

Rosemary “for remembrance” — Ophelia’s lines in Hamlet. Wild thyme from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows.” Pansies for thoughts, rue for sorrow, fennel for flattery.

Walking through the garden is like walking through a living index to his work. You don’t need to be a Shakespeare scholar to feel it. You just need to slow down.

A Garden for Every Season

The Shakespeare Garden is at its most spectacular in late April and May, when the wildflowers and climbing roses are at their peak. But it holds something in every season.

Summer brings herbs and grasses. Autumn turns the leaves along the stone paths. Even in winter, the bare bones of the garden — the low stone walls, the gnarled old apple trees, the bench where almost nobody sits — have a quiet beauty to them.

It’s free, open year-round, and often completely empty even on the most crowded Central Park weekends. That last part is the real secret.

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Next Door: Free Shakespeare Under the Stars

Walk three minutes east from the garden and you reach the Delacorte Theater, home of Shakespeare in the Park. Free performances have run there every summer since 1962 — one of the best things New York has ever done for its residents.

The connection between the garden and the theater is intentional. Both exist to keep Shakespeare rooted in the city. Both are free. Both are worth planning around when you visit in summer.

Tickets for the Delacorte are distributed same-day — both in person and through a digital lottery. The demand is real, so plan ahead. While you’re in this part of the park, the Ramble is just a few minutes’ walk northeast — a 36-acre woodland home to more bird species than most people expect to find in the middle of Manhattan.

How to Find the Garden

Enter Central Park at West 79th Street and Central Park West. Walk east into the park and follow signs for Belvedere Castle. The Shakespeare Garden sits just below and to the south of the castle. Look for the small wooden directional signs — they’re easy to miss if you’re moving quickly.

Best time to visit: early morning on a weekday in May. Bring a book. Sit on one of the stone benches. The garden is managed by the Central Park Conservancy, and it shows — this is one of the most carefully maintained small spaces in the entire park.

No dogs are allowed inside, to protect the plantings. Everything else is welcome.

Central Park has no shortage of hidden corners, but this one — with its literary history, its careful plantings, and its unusual quiet — is among the best. For more ways to make the most of the park and the rest of the city, the Ultimate New York Travel Guide covers everything you need.

And if you’re planning a full day without spending much, the best free things to do in NYC includes some of the city’s most underrated experiences — including several that are walking distance from here.

The garden doesn’t ask for much. It just asks that you slow down long enough to notice it.

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