ADRIAN BENEPE, New York City's parks commissioner, boasts that when it comes to gardens, New York City is “comparable with Paris.”

Mutter under your breath, if you must. (Suggestion: What's next, Mr. Benepe? Our cow pastures match Vermont's?) But with peak flower season approaching, don't pass final judgment until you've looked for yourself.

At the very least, the city has an amazing range of gardens that go far beyond garden variety, from formal French to informal Puerto Rican.

The 4-acre Battery Bosque is (luckily) unavoidable for Statue of Liberty-bound tourists: the line for the ferry cuts through it. Designed by the landscape architect Laura Starr and the gardening expert Piet Oudolf, it opened in 2005, replacing cobblestone with 130 plant species that range from alliums to irises to barrenwort to geraniums to hyacinths to sage (and those are just the purple flowers that bloom in May), shaded by London plane trees.

With a ferry wait that can last hours, leave one family member in line (we suggest Dad), admire the waves of color, hang out on a bench or check out the so-called moments of amusement, like the step-on Dance Chimes and the 35-jet fountain installed at grade for easy soak-yourself access.

The Conservatory Garden in Central Park is turning 70 this year; it is divided into gardens in the French, Italian and English styles at the northern tip of Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue. Allées of crabapples line the central French garden; the wisteria along the pergola in back should be in bloom soon. There is a free tour on Saturdays.

The Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval branch in Fort Tryon Park, is northern Manhattan's main tourist attraction. But visitors often overlook the park's Heather Garden, with its dog-tooth violets, peonies, poppies and plenty more to be seen in the next two months, not to mention the startling views of the Hudson River and the Palisades of New Jersey. And no need to take a picnic. Nearby is one of Manhattan's more unusually situated restaurants. The New Leaf Café is in a 1930s stone building in the middle of the park and serves upscale but crowd-pleasing fare like duck confit panini or challah French toast with chicken and apple sausage for Sunday brunch ($17.95). The setting lends itself to oddities for Manhattan, like flitting butterflies and free parking.

Wave Hill, 28 acres in the Riverdale section of the Bronx that also overlook the Hudson and the Palisades, is a mix of scenic views, gardens, woods, an art gallery and, unlike the Conservatory Garden, a conservatory. Until the end of May, the gallery is featuring “Emily Dickinson Rendered,” with sculptures and installations by contemporary artists inspired by the poet, who would certainly have favored Wave Hill over, say, Wall Street. Ditto for Thoreau, who inspired the artists who will be featured from June 7 to Aug. 26.

You cannot plan a city garden tour without visiting the smallest but most spirited ones: The more than 600 community gardens that sprang up in the 1970s in vacant lots. Though only the neighbors have keys, they are required to open up the gardens to the public several hours a week.

They're all across the city, but concentrated in neighborhoods like Harlem and the East Village. You can take a mini-tour by starting at the blocklong Liz Christy garden on Houston between the Bowery and Second Avenue, an early garden that served as a model for others, and walking east to Le Petit Versailles, which is often home to art exhibitions and films. Turn left on Avenue C, and hit the impossible-to-miss Secret Garden at Fourth Street (some secret), where a largely Puerto Rican crowd gardens, relaxes and plays dominos.

Though the neighborhood has long been losing café con leche joints to fancy espresso shops, you can find traditional Puerto Rican food in the humble Casa Adela luncheonette across Avenue C. Then head to the 6BC Garden with its little ponds, tables made from slabs of stone and a two-story structure. Its overseer, Katherine Gleason, describes it as the kind of garden you'd see next to a rundown Italian villa.

So far, all the gardens mentioned are open to the public. But one neighborhood, Jackson Heights in Queens (disclosure: I live there), has the city's true secret gardens, blocklong interior courtyards largely invisible from the street (disclosure: my apartment looks out on one). On Saturday, June 9, an annual map-provided, self-guided garden tour opens them to the public from noon to 4 p.m. (disclosure: if you steal any of our flowers, I'll get you).

And if all of that's not enough, there are the city's four botanical gardens: in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. And if that's not enough, there's always Paris.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Battery Bosque (www.thebattery.org/gardens) is at the southern tip of Manhattan. Admission is free. Enter Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 105th Street for the Conservatory Garden (www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/northend). It's free, and tours meet at 11 a.m. on Saturdays at the Vanderbilt Gate.

Admission is free at the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park (www.ftpt.org) in Washington Heights. The New Leaf Café is east of the garden (212-568-5323, www.nyrp.org/newleaf).

Wave Hill is at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue in the Bronx (718-549-3200, www.wavehill.org).

Among the community gardens, Le Petit Versailles on East Second Street between Avenues B and C, is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 7 p.m. The Secret Garden at Fourth Street and Avenue C is usually open every day; the Casa Adela cafe (212-473-1882) is nearby at 66 Avenue C. The 6BC Garden (www.6bc.org) at East Sixth Street between Avenues B and C is open 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends and Wednesday evenings until dark.

The Jackson Heights Garden Tour (718-565-5344) is on June 9. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased the morning of the event at the Community Church, 81-10 35th Avenue.

The four botanical gradens are: the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx (718-817-8700, www.nybg.org); the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (718-623-7200, www.bbg.org); the Queens Botanical Garden (718-886-3800, www.queensbotanical.org); and the Staten Island Botanical Garden, (718-273-8200; www.sibg.org).