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 27 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.
2011 TOURS AND TOPICS
April 27 — 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—sure signs of spring.
May 4 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Early spring flowering woody ornamentals
Led by Dr. Ed Hasselkus, Curator of Longenecker Horticultural Gardens, this tour will include the yellow and Little Girl Series magnolias, early lilacs and rhododendrons, and other spring flowering plants.
May 11 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Flowering Crabapples and Lilacs
Emeritus Professor of Horticulture Ed Hasselkus, curator of the Longenecker Gardens, will concentrate on the Arboretum’s excellent collection of flowering crabapples and present highlights in the Gardens’ large lilac collection.
May 18 — 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 25 — Longenecker Gardens Tour: Small Ornamental Trees
Jeff Epping, Director of Horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, will highlight some of the Gardens’ interesting, and unusual, ornamental small trees.