Educational Tours for Gardeners
Each spring, the Arboretum offers a series of free, informational tours for gardeners featuring Longenecker Gardens and the Wisconsin Native Plant Garden. Tours take place Wednesdays at 7 p.m. beginning April 28 and concluding August 11. Tours are open to the public and begin at the Arboretum Visitor Center. They are intended for adults.
With more than 2,000 plants on display, Longenecker Gardens features an internationally recognized collection of trees, shrubs, and vines and is a major resource for the study of landscape plants by educators, the public and the nursery trade. The gardens hold major displays of lilacs, flowering crabapples, viburnums, conifers and many other plant groups.
The 4-acre Wisconsin Native Plant Garden surrounds the Visitor Center and will ultimately house approximately 400 native Wisconsin species. The gardens serve as an introduction to ecological restoration and the restored and managed plant communities in the Arboretum; they also demonstrate how to incorporate native plants into home landscapes.
Longenecker Gardens tours will be led by Ed Hasselkus, curator, and other local experts. Wisconsin Native Plant Gardener Susan Carpenter will lead the Wisconsin Native Plant Garden tours.
Tours take place rain or shine, except in the case of severe weather. While every effort will be made to keep to the following schedule, information about schedule changes will be available during office hours at the Arboretum’s reception desk at (608) 263-7888.
2010 TOURS AND TOPICS
April 28 — Native Plant Garden Tour: Early Signs of Spring
As trees and shrubs begin to leaf out, Dutchman's breeches, anemones and rue-anemones might be blooming in the woodland gardens. In our prairie gardens, we may find Pasque flower, prairie smoke and bird's-foot violet.
May 5 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Early spring flowering woody ornamentals
This tour, led by Laura Jull, UW- Madison professor of horticulture, will include the yellow and Little Girl Series magnolias, early lilacs and rhododendrons, and other spring flowering plants.
May 12 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Flowering Crabapples and Lilacs
Emeritus Professor of Horticulture Ed Hasselkus, curator of the Longenecker Gardens, will concentrate on flowering crabapples, and present highlights in the Gardens' large lilac collection.
May 19 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Azaleas and Rhododendrons
Dr. Deb McCown, a specialist in woody ornamentals, will discuss the care of these plants in the Madison area.
May 26 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Small Ornamental Trees
Ed Lyon will highlight some of the Garden's interesting, and unusual, ornamental small trees.
June 2 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Conifers
If you are confused about telling a spruce from a fir, join us on a walk through the Garden's spectacular conifer collection. On this tour you will learn about "garden-sized" conifers of many types.
June 9 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Shade Trees
Laura Wyatt, WDNR Urban Forestry, will lead the group through the Gardens' extensive collection of larger trees while discussing strategies for growing healthy trees in urban/suburban conditions.
June 16 — Native Plant Garden Tour: Woodland, Savanna and Prairie Gardens
Celebrate the beginning of summer by visiting our woodland, savanna and prairie gardens. This tour provides an overview of the Wisconsin Native Plant Garden.
June 23 — Native Plant Garden Tour: What's Blooming?
Find, compare and learn about flowers on native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, and see what's new in our collection of plants native to southern Wisconsin.
July 28 — Native Plant Garden Tour: Native Gardens for Pollinators
This tour will feature many summer-blooming species in our diverse native garden. We will highlight plants and gardening practices that support essential pollinators in urban/suburban landscapes.
August 11 — Native Plant Garden Tour: Native Grasses
As summer ends and fall approaches, we will take a closer look at native grasses, from tiny mustache grass to big bluestem.