It may not be very big – 52 acres – but it’s overflowing with beauty…the Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Garden.
My friend and I met in Dubuque, Iowa for our annual get together. Dubuque is a lovely river town. It has a scenic river walk along the Mississippi River, a wonderful botanical garden and thrift stores.
Dubuque met our criteria for a meeting place: water, gardens and thrift & antique stores.
The day we went to the botanical garden was dreamy. An ideal temperature, bright blue skies with no clouds in sight.
Dubuque is five hours farther south than Northfield, and there were many plants blooming in Iowa that were not blooming in Minnesota yet. There were peonies and lupines and iris’ in their full array.
In the botanical garden there was an herb garden, a shade garden, an English garden, a Japanese garden, a prairie garden, a rose garden (not in bloom yet), annuals, perennials, peonies, iris’ and lupines, a children’s area, sculptures, trees, lots of benches and green, green, grass.
So much packed into those 52 acres.
The arb is convenient and close to town. And has free admission.
They also boast the arboretum & garden is run entirely by volunteers. It’s a young arboretum…established in 1980.
We spent our morning meandering, and sitting on the benches, and smelling the flowers, enjoying ourselves in this beautiful setting, marveling at God’s creation.
And we were grateful.
