Let's say you're going to a museum that has a wide-ranging collection of objects and an attractive park-like setting like the Getty Museum shown here. You'll be able to use the entire museum site to satisfy your garden interest. Inside the museum you'll focus on artworks that contain garden scenes. Outside you'll enjoy looking at the artwork positioned in the landscaping.
When you enter the museum you can start anywhere you like—whatever gallery is closest to the door, for example. You’re on a quest, so don’t be self-conscious about just walking into the room, browsing, and walking out if you don’t find a garden scene.
Be sure you’re looking carefully enough to notice gardens in the backgrounds of paintings, perhaps where a figure or two are placed in a garden setting. When you do find a garden being depicted, see what you can learn from it. Is it the type of garden you have? Would like to have? Is the artist specific about the types of plants, or does he/she only suggest the leafiness of the trees and lushness of the plantings? After a while, you’ll start to notice that sometimes the landscape is VERY important, and other times it is like a backdrop to showcase the figures. What did a Renaissance garden look like? How is it alike or different from an 18th century English scene? Do you notice any trends? During what periods might you notice A LOT of gardens?
OH—and get your eyes off 
the museum walls to look at the museum itself. Are there plants INSIDE the museum? If so, where are they located? What kind are they? Why do you think they’re placed there? Now check out the views through any windows in the building. Many museums have spectacular garden settings outside that show up the statue collection they might have on the museum’s grounds. GO OUTSIDE! One particularly unique garden is the Getty Villa’s kitchen garden which is planted with herbs used in cooking, medicine and religious rituals.
Use the museum to satisfy YOUR interests!
