Situated near the low point of the Lake Wingra watershed, the Arboretum receives millions of gallons of stormwater each year from surrounding neighborhoods and commercial areas. Challenges include erosion, impacts to infrastructure, and pollutants (salt, nutrients, trash, etc.) getting picked up in the stormwater and carried through Arboretum lands and into Lake Wingra. Yet these challenges are not at all unique to the Lake Wingra watershed and the Arboretum. Impacts from urban stormwater are widespread and affect community members in different ways. From 2021 to 2022, the Arboretum facilitate ..read more

For more than three decades, the Arboretum’s drop-in restoration work parties have engaged hundreds of community volunteers each year in restoring and caring for Arboretum land. During these Saturday morning work parties, volunteers remove invasive plants, prepare sites for prescribed burns, and do myriad other land management tasks. Crucial to the work parties’ ongoing success and popularity are the restoration team leaders who supervise them. Restoration work party manager Marian Farrior and volunteer program manager Judy Kingsbury recognized that the Arboretum’s experiences developing the t ..read more

“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. The multimedia exhibit “Driftless Prairie Visions” explores plant phenology (the timing of cyclical and seasonal biological events) at a reconstructed 10-acre prairie that grows on a bluff in Sauk County, Wisconsin. The artists used data collected from the prairie to spark imagination, inspire artistic creations, and promote land stewardship. Details from five artworks in the exhibit “Driftless Prairie Visions.” Jill Metcoff, Gigi ..read more

Wisconsin spring is in full swing in May and change is everywhere – budding, germination, decomposition, emergence, migration, fresh new growth, and warmth. We welcome garden volunteers and summer students joining us this month. Our gardening tasks include planting, trimming, weeding, and making garden observations. Woodlands and woodland gardens are rich with understory flowers (as well as flowering trees) this month. The buttercup, rose, violet, and lily families are well-represented by many species in the spring flora, blooming in May and June. A few species are even named after the month ..read more

The Arboretum is a gift from past generations to the present, and in the present we pass on this gift by stewarding the land for future generations of humans and all that live and rely on it. The folks who volunteer at the Arboretum generously give their time and talents in myriad ways, building relationships with the land and people. Each year we celebrate all that volunteers do and share deep gratitude for their efforts and the relationships that grow from them. There is much to celebrate from 2023! Last year, 678 people volunteered at the Arboretum, contributing more than 8,000 hours over t ..read more

Are you curious about the natural world? Do you want to make valuable collective contributions that advance scientific discovery and support initiatives locally and globally? Are you interested in making a difference and contributing to important research – and having fun learning about nature while doing it? Enter citizen science! Citizen science projects have gained significant momentum in recent years, revolutionizing the way scientific research is conducted. From collecting data about the quality of freshwater to tracking species migrations and so much more, citizen science projects vary i ..read more

April can be a month of all-too-rapid spring growth or all-too-slow development in our gardens and landscapes. Often, the month brings both as temperatures and precipitation vary widely. With warmer than average weather in February and March this year, some species in the native plant garden bloomed last month: wind-pollinated Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), American hazelnut (Corylus americana), and pasqueflower (Anemone patens), which is pollinated by small bees. Prairie-smoke (Geum triflorum) and shooting star (Dodecatheon meadii) rosettes (short stalks with many leaves close to t ..read more

Environmental outreach can help neighbors learn to address environmental issues, such as urban stormwater, that affect their communities. Residents who are well-respected within their social networks can play a role in promoting environmentally responsible behaviors that support healthier environments. Research led by Theresa Vander Woude, as part of her master’s degree at UW–Madison, focused on understanding the beliefs that motivate these influential residents, or opinion leaders, and what shapes their willingness to participate in environmental outreach efforts around issues of urban water ..read more

An old greenhouse, which has not been used to grow plants in several years, occupies the south-facing section of the Arboretum’s lab building, east of the Visitor Center. It had become a random storage space and was falling into disrepair. During 2023, the land care crew envisioned bringing it back to life and growing native plant plugs for restoration projects. Planting healthy native plugs grown in a controlled greenhouse environment is sometimes favored over spreading seed because plugs can establish in a restoration site significantly faster. Growing plugs is also especially desirable for ..read more

March is a month of change – from winter to spring, from cool temperatures to warmer, from frozen soil to early mud season. So far, winter 2024 has brought strong contrasts and variability, warmth and abrupt temperature changes, as well as precipitation falling as rain, snow, sleet, or wintry mix. This month we are working outdoors as conditions permit. Garden planning and plant orders are still in progress here and for gardeners in the community who are sharing their plans and questions. Rain gardens are an excellent way to incorporate native plants in your landscape and realize the bene ..read more