Brookside Gardens
Wheaton, Maryland · Botanical Garden · Accessibility score 5/5
Address: 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton, MD 20902
Phone: (301) 962-1400
About
Brookside Gardens is a 50-acre public garden in Wheaton, Maryland, run by Montgomery Parks and set inside Wheaton Regional Park. The grounds are organized into themed sections, including an Aquatic Garden, Azalea Garden, Butterfly Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, and a Japanese-style garden centered on Gude Lake, plus a Woodland Walk along the park's edge.
Two conservatory buildings keep plants growing year round, so there is something to see even when the outdoor beds are bare. Visitors walk the themed gardens, photograph the seasonal plantings, or take a class through the Visitor Center. The gardens also host ticketed events, including the winter Garden of Lights display, and the grounds can be rented for weddings and other private functions.
As of 2026, admission to the outdoor gardens is free. The gardens are open sunrise to sunset daily. The Visitor Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Conservatory building is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., both daily. The gift shop keeps shorter hours, roughly 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Free parking is available at both the 1800 and 1500 Glenallan Avenue entrances, with electric vehicle charging stations near the Visitor Center and bike racks at the Ferngate pedestrian entrance and the Visitor Center. Buses and other oversized vehicles should call ahead to arrange parking.
Brookside Gardens sits in Wheaton, in the Washington, DC suburbs, inside the larger Wheaton Regional Park. The park also holds Brookside Nature Center, a short walk away at 1400 Glenallan Avenue, and a dog park; dogs are not permitted inside the gardens themselves.
Accessibility
Brookside Gardens is wheelchair accessible. Montgomery Parks publishes a dedicated accessibility page for the gardens and has built infrastructure, including a paved path network and a leveled viewing platform, for visitors who use mobility devices.
Free parking is available at both the 1800 and 1500 Glenallan Avenue entrances, with designated accessible spaces in the lots outside the Visitor Center and the Conservatory. Electric vehicle charging stations sit near the Visitor Center. Anyone arriving by bus or motor coach should call ahead at 301-962-1404, since oversized vehicles need separate arrangements.
The Visitor Center has three wheelchair-accessible entrances. Pedestrians enter through gates on Glenallan Avenue or at the conservatory pedestrian entrance rather than the vehicle gates, which use deer-exclusion grates that also block pedestrian crossing. An accessible pathway runs throughout the gardens and is marked on the visitor map. Visitor reviews describe the main paths as paved, with some wood-chip side paths as an alternate surface. Near the Gude Garden, a stone and Ipe-wood viewing platform was added in 2025 to level a steep slope along the water's edge.
Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are in the Conservatory and the Visitor Center, and an all-gender restroom is in the Visitor Center next to the Children's Classroom.
Two standard wheelchairs can be borrowed at the Visitor Center information desk on a first-come, first-served basis with a valid photo ID. Binoculars, a monocular telescope, and EnChroma color-blind glasses are also available to check out at the same desk. Service animals are welcome throughout the gardens, though pets are not. Sign language interpreters and Braille or large-print materials can be arranged for registered programs if you contact the Program Access Office in advance, at 301-495-2581 or [email protected].
Checked by Accessible America, August 2026. Report a change
How we checked this
We checked these details against official information from the venue and public agencies:
- montgomeryparks.org (9 details, checked 2026-08-27)
More accessible places in Maryland
- Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (Baltimore)
- Walters Art Museum (Baltimore)
- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park (Church Creek)
- Port Discovery Children's Museum (Baltimore)
- Antietam National Battlefield (Sharpsburg)
- Catoctin Mountain Park (Thurmont)
Photo credits
- A wooden teahouse on a boardwalk over a garden pond, ringed by forest.: w:User:Rkphoto, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)
- A brick garden path with benches and a stepped fountain, shaded by trees.: DC Gardens, CC BY 2.0 (source)
- Palms and tropical plants fill the glass-roofed conservatory at Brookside Gardens.: DC Gardens, CC BY 2.0 (source)
