Community Links

The Arboretum compliments many local attractions. For information regarding other sites to add to your travel itinerary, please visit some of the below websites.

Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau
Cedar Falls Visitors & Tourism Bureau
Cedar Valley Tourism
Cedar Valley Trails
George Wyth State Park
Hartman Reserve Nature Center
Grout Museum of History & Science
Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy
Lost Island Water Park
Phelps Youth Pavilion

Iowa Public Gardens

Brenton Arboretum 
Des Moines Botanical Center 
Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Center
GardenVisit.org  
Iowa Arboretum 
Newton Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Reiman Gardens, Iowa State University
UNI Botanical Center

Arboretums and Botanic Centers

Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Dallas, TX
Garden Traveler
Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN
Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO
Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL
Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WI
United States Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C.
U.S. National Arboretum, Washington, D.C.

Informational Links

Gardening Tips You Can Use at Home
Green Your World
Horticultural Hotline
Iowa Prairie Network
ISU Extension
National Gardening Association
Plant Advice
State Trees and State Flowers

Project Links

Echinacea Project
The once-vast prairie has been reduced to small, isolated patches. How long will remnant populations exist, and how can they be conserved? Follow Garden scientists who are working to answer these questions by studying the narrow-leaved purple coneflower.
http://echinacea.umn.edu/

Project BudBurst
A nationwide initiative that uses citizen scientist observers to track climate change by recording the leafing and flowering of flora across the United States.
http://www.budburst.ucar.edu/

Seeds of Success
A program that collects, conserves, and develops native plant materials for stabilizing, rehabilitating, and restoring lands in the United States.
http://www.cbgseedbank.org/

VPlants Virtual Herbarium
An online, searchable database that provides free plant specimen data and digital images of specimens.
http://www.vplants.org/

Links for Children (of ALL ages)

The Biology of Plants
A simple website that describes the life cycle of a plant.
http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/parts.html

CalPhotos
A database of plant photos.
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/flora/

A Closer Look at Plants
A introduction to plant anatomy.
http://www.rbg.ca/cbcn/en/cbcn4kids/kid_anatomy.htm

Curious George and Paper Towel Plants
Watch a video to see how Curious George makes paper towel plants.
http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/video/video_pop.html?clip=interstitials/105B&title=Paper%20Towel%20Plants&ar=16:9&filetype=wmv&bandwidth=_hi

Glossopedia: Plants
A visual encyclopedia of plants.
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=30

The Great Plant Escape
Journey into the world of plants with Bud and Sprout.
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/index.html

Journey North Tulip Test Garden
In this large experiment students across the Northern Hemisphere track the growth of the same plant as the season changes from winter to spring. They discover how temperatures, sunlight, geographic location, and other variables influence plant growth — and the full array of seasonal changes that take place in the springtime. These observations set the stage for a better understanding of the impact of a changing climate.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tulip/index.html

Kids Gardening
We use gardening as a vehicle for encouraging children to make good food choices, augmenting classroom studies with experiential learning, building a love of nature, stimulating social interaction, facilitating cultural exchange, and more.
http://kidsgardening.com/

Life Cycle of a Plant
A set of activities to familiarize students with the life cycle of plants from seed to dispersal.
http://www2.bgfl.org/bgfl2/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/plants_pt2/index.htm

NatureWorks
Discover the natural world and the connections that make nature work in this 16-part series for students in grades 3-6. Student host Patrice Forrester and Senior Naturalist Dave Erler of the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, explore the ways living things interact with the environment.
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep.htm

Patterns in Nature
Great photos from National Geographic showing patterns in nature.
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/patterns-flora/#hibiscus-petals_9376_600x450.jpg

Plant Nutrition
A great deal of information about plants.
http://www.agr.state.nc.us/cyber/kidswrld/plant/index.htm

Plant Power
Play the game from National Geographic to learn all about plants.
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0604/games/game_intro.html

Sci4Kids
Stories that explain all about plants.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/plants/plantsintro.htm

Science Buddies
Free plant biology science fair projects, answers, and tools for serious students.
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_interest_area.php?ia=PlantBio

Tropical Feast
Forty common and unusual food products from the tropics. Each plant’s scientific name, its native range, the part eaten, uses, and other interesting facts are included in this Web site.
http://www.mobot.org/education/tropicalfeast/default.asp

What’s it LIke Where You Live?
This Web site offers a wealth of information about six terrestrial biomes (rainforest, tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, grassland, and desert) and six aquatic ecosystems (rivers and streams, ponds and lakes, wetlands, shorelines, temperate oceans, and tropical oceans).
http://mbgnet.net/