Plan Your Visit
- Admissions, Hours & Directions
- What’s New
- What You’ll See
- Garden Spaces
- Bald Cypress Allée
- Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing
- CoHort’s Patio Garden
- DeeAnn Drew Shade Garden
- Dr. Griffith J. Buck Rose Collection
- Dunlap Entry Courtyard
- East Entry Garden
- Edible Garden
- Front Yard Garden
- Heirloom Garden
- Helen Latch Jones Rose Garden
- Hillside Water-wise Garden
- Home Demonstration Gardens
- Hughes Conservatory
- Joey and Jesse’s Herb Garden
- Lake Helen
- Margaret E. Penkhus Campanile Garden
- Naturalist Garden
- North Lawn
- North Mixed Border
- Outdoor Living Room
- Patty Jischke Children’s Garden
- Prairie Vista Garden
- Reflection Garden
- Ross Formal Lawn Garden
- Roy & Mary Amos Smith Hardwood Forest
- Rust Events Plaza
- South Field
- South Mixed Border
- South Patio
- Sunny Side Yard
- Sycamore Falls
- Trial and Display Gardens
- Walled Court
- West Entry Garden
- What You’ll Enjoy
- School Programs
- Adult Tours
- Garden Policies
- Rentals
Current Exhibition
2023 theme: Light and Reflection
Hillside Water-wise Garden
Garden Features & Mission
The Hillside Water-wise Garden is the only one of its kind in Iowa for its unique planting method and style. A path casually winds up the hill through four different planting themes, planted in 4-6″ of gravel, and bordered by impressive limestone walls. The plantings reflect a sustainability initiative of being beautiful but requiring little or no water once established.
Garden features: Bulb collection, gravel garden, borrowed views
Prominent plants: Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’, Joe-Pye Weed, Achillea ‘coronation gold’
