A giant now sleeps beneath a blanket of snow in Chaska: the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. (Cool people call it “the Arb.”) The 1,200-acre horticultural garden and arboretum arguably isn’t at its very best right now – but there are still many fun things to do there in February, and planning a springtime visit to the Arb can help anyone weather winter’s interminable funk.
The Arb was founded in 1958 by the Men’s Garden Club of Minneapolis, the Lake Minnetonka Garden Club, the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, and other community supporters. The group promptly gifted it to the University of Minnesota, which used their new facilities to turn our state into one of the shining lights of the horticultural world. UofM’s Horticultural Research Center has developed 160 varieties of cold-hardy plants so far, including the divine Honeycrisp apple. If anyone ever offers you a Red Delicious, it is your duty as a self-respecting Minnesotan to swat it out of their hand and demand they eat a Honeycrisp. They will thank you for changing their life as soon as the elation from their first bite has subsided.
As riveting a subject as fruit genetics can be, the sights and sounds are the real stars of the show at the Arb. I will be your guide, although I must omit some details or else there won’t be enough space for Flying Cloud Airport’s article.
First, book a $15 ticket online for each visitor in your party. Visitors aged 15 and younger still need tickets; theirs are just free because they don’t have jobs. Once the friendly attendant at the gatehouse has scanned your barcode, you’re in. After you have experienced zero difficulty finding a spot in the Arb’s spacious parking lot, proceed to the Elizabeth Carr Slade Perennial Garden. Its fountain sprays amid 324 species and cultivars of gorgeous, ephemeral blossoms, many of which are clumsily navigated by pollen-dusted bees. Next you must see the Griggs/Burke Annual Garden’s 30,000 longer-lived plants, all arranged around the whimsical Merboys fountain.
The nearby Burdick-Craddick-Lott Walk showcases 81 varieties of chrysanthemums, over one-quarter of which came into existence courtesy of UofM. It can be difficult to avoid photographers’ lenses while you are appreciating so many flowers. These areas are madly popular among newlywed couples, so you are likely to become immortalized in several strangers’ photo albums and appear in a few of their Christmas cards as well.
If you have ever wished you could visit Japan’s Edo period but don’t want to risk being present for the 1783 eruption of Mount Asama, then you will love the Japanese Garden. Landscape architect Koichi Kawana designed an enigmatic space which demands multiple visits to be appreciated in full. Even if you aren’t especially perceptive, you are still certain to enjoy the 9’ waterfall, granite snow lanterns and candy-colored koi. Take note of the redbud trees! They too were developed by UofM’s horticulturalists.
The adjacent MacMillan Hosta Glade is a criminally overlooked attraction. It features 300 varieties of hostas including the stately Gold Standard, the bicolor Vulcan, the chartreuse-rimmed Golden Tiara, the bluish Halcyon, the spidery Kabitan, and the description-defying Frances Williams. Once you have become inspired by the home landscape designs showcased at the de Vos Gardens and contemplated the meaning of life at the Woodland Azalea Garden, go to the Rose Gardens where prickly shrubs burst with dense, brightly colored petals. You will wish you could pick some flowers to take home, but the Arb’s staff are wholly against that line of thinking.
It is now time for my favorite part of the Arb: Green Heron Pond, which is thoughtfully girdled by a boardwalk so your shoes don’t get dirty. This is the birds’ domain, where you will hear male red-winged blackbirds frenetically advertising their services to female red-winged blackbirds, Canada geese honking with relief over having found a swath of wilderness where #1 steel shot isn’t permitted, and even the green heron itself. The wading bird’s guttural “squee-awk” probably hasn’t inspired many sonnets. It is a Whitmanesque barbaric yawp, if it is anything, but in its defense the green heron is more interested in locating frogs than it is entertaining you.
Upon circling the pond, hang a left at the Ordway Picnic Shelter (assuming you do not stop there to picnic; it is easy to transport food to courtesy of Three-Mile Drive, which includes a nearby parking lot). Enter the glade to explore the Dayton Wildflower Garden – a web of trails surrounded by trillium, orchids, bloodroot, and many other flowers which blossom before anything else does. Turkeys are particularly fond of the Dayton, and can often be found there looking for things that turkeys like.
You will emerge at the Pillsbury Shade Tree Exhibit. If you have come to the Arb to learn, you will be delighted by one dozen individual exhibits which, taken altogether, provide a highly instructive primer on shade trees. If you have come to the Arb to pretend you are a pirate, you will be equally delighted by the tree house.
Continue down Three-Mile Drive to take in the Prairie Trail and Prairie Garden, where you can observe the greatest plants in the world: those which are native to the best state in the world. Beyond those lie an endless variety of spruce, ash, hawthorn and crabapple trees that lead to the Arb’s highest point. There is the Harrison Sculpture Garden, which comprises over two dozen pieces of art by renowned contemporary sculptors. My personal favorite is Mimmo Paladino’s Sud II, which looks like it should be guarded by some sort of infernal three-headed dog.
Contemplate the meaning of life once again at the Chinese Garden, get thoroughly disoriented in the Maze Garden, and finally arrive at the Farm at the Arb. It is a cheerful place, replete with a century-old barn, vegetable garden and crop walk. The Tashjian Bee & Pollinator Discovery Center will give you a newfound appreciation for little pollinating guys. If you go there with a date, take this opportunity to tell them “Hey honey, hive got a sting for you. Let’s bee together!” They will love it.
Perhaps I ought to have advised stopping at the Oswald Visitor Center at the start of your day at the Arb. I prefer to save it for last, because that way I’m not stuck carrying around all the fine art, jewelry, puzzles, home decor, clothing, kitchen things, house plants and apples for sale at the Arboretum Gift & Garden Store. Furthermore, I like to restore myself after my jaunt by eating delicious food at The Eatery at the Arboretum.
What’s in store for you at the Arb this February?
- February 2nd–25th: Spring Flower Show Teas
- February 3rd–26th: Spring Flower Show
- February 5th: Full Snow Moon Snowshoe Hike
- February 9th, 16th & 23rd: After Hours With the Flowers
- February 12th: Galentine's Yoga Retreat
- February 12th & 26th: Spring Flower Show Fairy Garden Make & Take
- February 18th & 19th: February Art Fair
Please visit arb.umn.edu to plan your visit and view even more upcoming events!