Archives

• Gardening with Native Plants: Spring Plants and Pollinators March 30, 2021

  Even if winter lingers in March, April leads to true spring: longer and warmer days, adequate rainfall, and changing colors as tree buds swell and… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Trees and Shrubs March 1, 2021

  Despite the possibility of snow or ice storms this month, gardeners anticipate March. We note longer days, increasing sun angles, the equinox, shrinking snowpack, and… Read more

• Art on View: Renewal Without End February 12, 2021

  Visit the southeast corner of Longenecker Horticultural Gardens to see “Renewal Without End,” an art installation by Derick Wycherly. The twenty-yard banner spans four trees… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Garden Winter January 28, 2021

  February’s cold and snows limit garden work but allow for interesting winter observations and garden planning. Animal activity is legible in the snow, rewritten after… Read more

• Winter Interest in the Horticultural Collection January 6, 2021

  Fall Color in Evergreen Conifers Some needle-bearing trees are deciduous – such as larch and bald cypress, which display impressive fall color – but most… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Winter Reading December 1, 2020

  December brings short days, low sun angles, early winter ice, and snow—and few gardening tasks. We are preparing for snow removal, trimming along paths, harvesting… Read more

• Police stumped by theft of rare tree in Wisconsin capital November 12, 2020

  MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Police are stumped by the theft of a rare pine tree from the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. The 25-foot Algonquin Pillar… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Winterizing the Garden September 29, 2020

  October may bring cool or warm days, sun or clouds, and our first frost of the season. The last few flowers on New England asters… Read more

• Three ways to help save monarch butterflies and other pollinators September 21, 2020

  “Every fall, declining day length triggers one of the most incredible phenomena found in nature: the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies. Across North America,… Read more

• Growing the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens Collection September 1, 2020

  After a two-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, garden staff returned to work in mid-May amid a record number of visitors enjoying the garden’s… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Container Gardening September 1, 2020

  September brings the first official day of fall and noticeably shorter days for gardening. Our native plant garden tasks include trimming tall plants along paths,… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: New Tools and Inspiration July 30, 2020

  August marks a turning point in the growing season. Summer warmth and ample rains usually continue this month, along with a few days of refreshing… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Summer Sunflowers July 1, 2020

  July is our warmest month of the year, with still-long days and usually ample rain. Summer blooming plants reach full height and come into flower,… Read more

• Volunteer Reading Group: Community and Connection June 1, 2020

  What happens when eager, knowledgeable volunteers from different organizations are cooped up all winter and can’t work in the dirt? Book lovers coordinate a garden… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Early Summer Gardening June 1, 2020

  The June calendar includes the end of spring and beginning of summer. This month, the fully developed tree canopy creates deep shade in the maple… Read more

• Lilac Collection Celebrates 85 Years April 30, 2020

  On April 19, 1935, the first lilacs were planted in Longenecker Horticultural Gardens—known at the time simply as the Arboretum’s horticultural area. It was named… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: The View from Home April 30, 2020

  Spring has arrived in the Arboretum native plant garden, with spring ephemerals blooming, bluebirds and tree swallows exploring nest boxes, and tree and shrub buds… Read more

• Visiting the Arboretum During Coronavirus April 1, 2020

  The sun is shining, temperatures are warming, sprouts and buds are growing. Yet we also face uncertainty and disruption to our everyday lives as we… Read more

• Volunteers Turn Dreams into Reality February 27, 2020

  Emily Dickinson wrote “To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, / One clover, and a bee. / And revery. / The… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Plant Mixes for Your Garden January 30, 2020

  February can bring snow, ice, sleet, and wind, interspersed with sun, melting snowbanks, dripping, and a promise of spring to come. Garden tasks include pruning,… Read more