New York City is known for its built environment, but tucked amid the stone and concrete are flowers.

In addition to the familiar guidebook-worthy plantings, there are myriad secret gardens dotting the five boroughs. They come in the form of historic-house museums and local parks, community gardens and churchyards -- places where weary city dwellers and visitors can slip in for a quick sip of nature, or linger through an afternoon.

With the summer season over, and winter’s limited palette of grays and whites on the way, there is perhaps no better time to discover the hidden gardens of New York.