Early Spring Plant Sale and Tulip Viewing

In preparation for a small spring plant sale; we planted hundreds of tulip bulbs last fall. They were amazing! 

We had an Ice Cream Social because what could possibly go better with gardens and trees than ice cream?

Monarchs and Margaritas

A new event to help celebrate the long-awaited flowering of the butterfly meadow

Shakespeare at the Arboretum.

A great new event held in the Rose Garden that added a dash of culture to our space.

While we have always been ready to show visitors our grounds; this year we added more formalized ways to see the space via several venues. Tree Hikes; Tram Tours; and Trolley Rides.

Story Time

Each week in the summer children gather for; perhaps; our most popular on-going event; story time. This year was no exception; we had such diverse guest readers as Waterloo’s Mayor and the “owl lady”

Moonlight and Roses

Along with new events, we also continued our old favorites, this event used to be in the fall but was moved to the summer and re-named

Music in the Gardens

Container Gardening Class

One of the foundations of what we do has always been education; and while we encourage everyone to spend time in our beautiful 40 acres; we know that some have much smaller spaces. This class points out that you can grow things no matter how restricted the space.

The Importance of Pollinators

We are fortunate to be able to draw on educational sources from Hawkeye Community College and the University of Northern Iowa

Our largest event of the year just keeps getting better.

Hobbit House

Over our now twenty years of existence; change has become one thing we have had to accept as a way of life. The landscape grows and evolves; the hardscape sometimes deteriorates and is replaced. Last year the railroad garden was discontinued and the Children’s Garden committee came up with a brilliant idea for a replacement. The space would become a Hobbit house and garden. A loyal group of volunteers provided the required financing and our dynamic trio of builders provided the construction expertise and the results are wonderful!

Our builders, Randy Robinson, Gary Blonigan, and Howard Craven

Welcome home Bilbo Baggins

Time to head out into the gardens, lots to see including a new Buffalo this year

The Arboretum part of our name is a fundamental of our existence and once again; thanks to a generous grant from Green- Scene we planted new trees. This year 57 in total with a nice blend of traditional indigenous species and ornamentals. The collection now boasts 825 trees and over 115 varieties.

Twenty years of continuous improvement and change; yet the one constant in all that time has been an indispensable group of talented; dedicated; and hardworking volunteers. Some of the names and faces have changed but the characteristics remain the same. Without these folks; this amazing spot would still be a cow pasture!

We wake up gardens in the spring

We put gardens to bed in the fall and plant tulip bulbs

We build things Like scare-crows

We plant trees

Sometimes we come out and work in a group

But we value each and every volunteer now; in the past; and those to come.

All the beauty and wonder of this exceptional place for the past twenty years is because of you!

In 2016 alone our volunteers put in over 4,200 hours!!

But, one last thing to mention; the Master Gardener Orchard held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and is well on its way to being a successful accomplishment for the Arboretum.

A year to celebrate and a year to remember; we had 13,405 visitors from 38 different states and 7 foreign countries including Saudi Arabia, France, India, Sweden, China, Canada, and Australia. Wow!