Archives

• Gardening with Native Plants: Sunny Gardens February 26, 2026

  March may be the most anticipated month in the gardening year as the growing season approaches. It brings the beginning of meteorological spring (March 1),… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: February Planning February 3, 2026

  February brings winter weather but also hints of seasonal change to come. Snowy gardens are covered with animal tracks and scattered wind-blown twigs and branches. Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Garden Kits January 5, 2026

  Instead of marking a beginning in the garden, January is peak dormant season. Roots, buds, plant crowns at and under the soil surface,… Read more

• Giving Thanks and Celebrating Volunteers December 2, 2025

  We’ve entered the season of thanksgiving and celebration, reflection and connection – an ideal time to “bellow forth the tubas and sousaphones, the whole rusty… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Gardener’s Bookshelf December 2, 2025

  December usually brings cold days, crisp air, freezing lakes, animal tracks, and snow shoveling. This month always brings the longest nights and the winter solstice,… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: November Leaves and Grasses November 4, 2025

  November quiets the garden. Growth stops, seeds scatter, dormancy begins or continues. By month’s end, we may see snow that sticks. At the Arboretum, we… Read more

• Fall Color, Weather, and Forecasts October 1, 2025

  As fall begins and day length gradually shortens, trees are being cued that winter is approaching. In response, deciduous trees (those that lose… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Falling Leaves, Seeds, and Temperatures October 1, 2025

  October in the garden can be warm and colorful or frosty and drab as leaves fall, dry, and blow into drifts and seeds disperse on… Read more

• Appreciating Student Staff September 17, 2025

  The Arboretum hires more than a dozen college students a year, for summer seasonal roles as outdoor educators and assistant staff in land care and… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Fungi in the Gardens September 4, 2025

  This summer, the Native Plant Garden was full of flowers, growth, animals, people, and learning. UW–Madison students Holly and Kate joined me and dozens of… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: “Weeds” and Weeds July 31, 2025

  In the native plant garden, August is a transition month between mid-summer growth and the colors, flowers, and seed heads of the fall season. Garden… Read more

• People Caring for the Land: Volunteers, Communities, and Connection July 31, 2025

  Spring brought abundant blossoms, greening of the prairie, songs of migratory birds, and many volunteer groups active on the land. In just thirteen… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Garden Animals June 2, 2025

  June brings the longest day lengths, warm temperatures, and usually ample precipitation. Plants grow rapidly and summer blooms begin. This month, garden tasks… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Sun to Shade May 1, 2025

  Wisconsin spring is in full swing in May and change is everywhere – budding, germination, decomposition, emergence, migration, fresh new growth, and warmth. Read more

• What's in Bloom? April 7, 2025

  This page offers bloom updates for popular trees and shrubs in Longenecker Horticultural Gardens and native plants in the Wisconsin Native Plant Garden and natural… Read more

• A Big Year for Volunteers and the Arboretum April 3, 2025

  What can a small group of committed individuals accomplish? A lot! What can a large group accomplish? Even more! When the group is 970 people… Read more

• Longenecker Horticultural Gardens Celebrates Ninety Years April 3, 2025

  The Longenecker Horticultural Gardens are the UW–Madison Arboretum’s arboretum, containing the largest and most diverse collection of woody plants in the state. On… Read more

• Taking the Next Step for Pollinators: Musings of a People and Nature Researcher April 3, 2025

  February 13, 2025. I traversed a snowy Arboretum with arcing trees layered in glittery white piping to attend the morning Winter Enrichment lecture… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Helping Pollinators April 3, 2025

  Wisconsin’s spring continues in April, the first month of the year when average minimum temperatures are above freezing. Total April precipitation (on average)… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Shrubs with Early Blooms February 27, 2025

  March often brings the end of winter, the beginning of spring, or simply the variability of this seasonal transition. Longer days, increasing sun… Read more