7 Places in Pa. to See Spring Blooms

For those ready to get outside and enjoy nature after a cold winter, here are seven places across Pennsylvania that offer views of beautiful spring blooms and peacefully refreshing landscapes. 

1. Pittsburgh Botanic Garden 

Spanning a total of 460 acres, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden is one of the largest American botanical gardens by area. It offers 65 acres of cultivated gardens and woodlands, including features like the Garden of the Five Senses, the Allegheny Plateau Woodlands, the Lotus Pond, various walking trails and more. 

2. Longwood Gardens 

For those to the east, Longwood Gardens presents over 1,000 acres of gardens and horticultural displays, including indoor and outdoor views, fountain shows and other seasonal and special events. Visitors can enjoy over 10,000 species and varieties of plants throughout nearly 200 acres of formal gardens, open meadows and winding paths. 

3. Erie Zoo and Botanical Gardens 

To the north, visitors can see both plants and animals at the Erie Zoo, which features its own botanical gardens. They can take a comfortable, two-hour walk through the zoo to see nearly 400 animals and 10 gardens, including the Wild Things Garden, Adventure Garden and Model Train Garden. 

4. Ricketts Glen State Park 

For those seeking more natural, uncultivated landscapes, Ricketts Glen offers scenic views of natural wetlands, old-growth forests and geological formations. Most notably, the park features its Falls Trail System, where visitors can hike and enjoy the scenes of free-flowing waterfalls, including the 94-foot-tall Ganoga Falls. In the spring, various flora bloom throughout the park, like Jack-in-the-pulpit, wild ginger, Marsh marigold and bluets. 

5. The Arboretum at Penn State 

A total of 370 acres, the Arboretum at Penn State is located adjacent to Penn State’s University Park campus in State College. It includes the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens, which features 10 acres of themed garden spaces and 14 acres of rolling meadows and walking paths. The arboretum also offers the Strolling Garden, Childhood’s Gate Children’s Garden, Pollinator and Bird Garden, Rose and Fragrance Garden and more. 

6. Hershey Gardens 

Hershey Gardens features 23 acres of botanical scenes, including changing seasonal displays, theme gardens, the Educational & Horticulture Wing and a hands-on Children’s Garden. Visitors can also explore the year-round Butterfly Atrium, with its hundreds of chrysalids, tropical plants and many butterfly species. 

7. Keithan’s Bluebird Gardens 

Located along Sunbury’s riverside, Keithan’s Bluebird Gardens started as a hobby garden and grew into a scenic community landscape. Small and peaceful, the city park features bird-watching opportunities and many varieties of trees and flowers, including founder Charles Keithan’s favorites: azaleas and rhododendrons.