Archives

• 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 areas. Read more

• Spring in October? Why Some Lilacs Are Blooming Now October 4, 2024

  We are seeing an uncommon phenomenon this year with a heavy rebloom on some lilacs throughout southern Wisconsin. The rebloom is happening on common lilacs… Read more

• Art on View: Driftless Prairie Visions May 1, 2024

  “Driftless Prairie Visions,” a multimedia exhibit by the five-artist group Prairie Imaginarium, will be on view in the Arboretum Visitor Center in May and June. Read more

• How Magnolia Flowers Weather an Unpredictable Spring April 28, 2023

  Despite the odds, this spring has had one of Longenecker Horticultural Gardens’ best magnolia flower displays in recent memory. The first flowers began to open… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Hidden from View October 28, 2021

  In its many guises, November offers fall, winter, and everything in between. Fall color remains here and there while daylength shortens, and wind, cold rain,… Read more

• Mid-October’s high temperatures come with a consequence for lilacs and other plants October 28, 2021

  While Madison’s residents soaked up the above-average October temperatures, the heat has given some plants mixed signals. Instead of entering dormancy for the winter, some… Read more

• From Minnesota to Mexico: How do monarchs know where and when to go? October 19, 2021

  Monarch butterflies, Minnesota’s official state butterfly, spend their summer throughout the Midwest and migrate to Mexico in the fall to avoid the freezing winters. By… Read more

• Citizen observations help inform Arboretum’s annual account of spring March 7, 2017

  “Lately, Madison residents are taking advantage of record-setting high temperatures to bike, run, and lounge outside, well before the anticipated end of the long Wisconsin winter. Read more