When my husband sent me a New York Times article about an O'Keeffe-in-Hawai'i exhibit in the Bronx that was happening at the same time we'd be in Manhattan this summer, we agreed that we had to go. We both enjoy visiting gardens in different cities (there are must-sees in Portland, Singapore, and D.C.) — and I love Georgia O’Keeffe’s lush watercolors.

How to Get to the New York Botanical Garden

To get to the botanical garden, you can either take the subway, the Metro-North train (a short 20 minutes from Grand Central), or hop in a ride-sharing service. Because it was hot out, we opted for a Lyft with a carseat. Tickets are $28 for adults, $12 for children 2-12, and free for kids under two. Seniors and students with ID are $25.

The entrance to the Garden is beautiful (you can tell that they have generous supporters). Upon entering, there's a snack bar immediately to your right (before the gift shop) and a larger cafeteria to your left. We went immediately to the snack bar to buy water (it was hot and they don't allow outside food or drinks inside). I also made a mental note of the beer and wine for sale (maybe at lunch!) and the poke bowl truck stationed nearby.

A tram service loops through the 25-acre garden and is a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly. It makes stops all around the park -- including at the seedling/educational center, children's discovery area, and rose garden -- but once we got on the tram we we were too hot to get off. Note: They take strollers, but you have to be able to collapse them.

A large sculpture by Hawaii artist Mark Chai greets visitors at the reflecting pool near the entrance, and more of his artwork light the path to the Conservatory.

I'd previously seen Chai's work on display at my friends’ store, Salvage Public, in Honolulu, and we were excited to recognize his art in the garden. Such a great incorporation of his sculptures into the space.

As part of the O'Keeffe exhibit, the conservatory steps are host to live music and hula performances throughout the day, while the inside of the conservatory are tropical plants inspired by the Hawaiian theme.

As explained in the NYT piece, many native plants could not be part of the exhibit due to travel restrictions -- the law limits what plants may be taken out of the State -- so the plants inside are tropical but not necessarily endemic to Hawaii.

Strollers are not allowed inside the conservatory. Our baby was sleeping, so we ended up circling around the park and coming back to the conservatory at the end. Instead, we walked to the Library where the O'Keeffe paintings were on display (strollers are not allowed in there either, so my husband and I took turns viewing the art).

What to Eat at the NYBG - Food & Drink

The Garden has several options for food: food trucks, the Hudson Garden Grill restaurant, and the Pine Tree Cafe, a cafeteria-style market serving an assortment of pizzas, paninis, salads, and other grab-and-go items.We didn't have reservations at the restaurant and didn't want to face a long wait time, so we opted for the Pine Tree Cafe.

This vegan pea "super salad" ($4.95) was surprisingly (?) good and so was my half-soup/half-sandwich combo ($11.50). Coffee, beer, and canned wine were also available for purchase.

Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii Exhibition

I first fell in love with Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings on a trip to Santa Fe in my twenties.

My sister and her new husband were celebrating their marriage in his hometown of Albuquerque (sidenote: that city is really hard to spell, I had to google it!), and my mom and I flew in from Hawai'i to help them celebrate. We took a day trip to check out the charming, artsy town, and our visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum was one of the highlights of our trip. That and the sopapillas. Filled with meats or dusted with sugar, those little fluffy pillows of heaven are reason enough to visit New Mexico (I don’t see them on menus anywhere else on my travels).

Anyway - I was double excited for this exhibit, since it involved my Hawaii home and one of my favorite artists.

In 1939, O'Keeffe spent 9 weeks in Hawaii courtesy of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, which commissioned her to do art for a print advertising campaign.