Yankee Southern Transplants in the Upper Midwest: Green Bay Botanical Garden

Hibiscus at the entryway

No, that's not a typo. Sounds like an oxymoron, but the place exists and it's open year-round. I had seen the Green Bay Botanical Garden on the map before we arrived and also had it on my radar for something to check out. I found out that they offer free admission on Wednesday evenings in the summer as a way for the BG to give back to the community. Our 3rd wedding anniversary fell on a Wednesday- the perfect chance for an outing!

The BG is actually located just a short drive from our apartment at NWTC (locally known as "Tech"- confusing for me!), i.e., Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. The land used to be a family-owned apple orchard in production through WWII (apparently they produced applesauce for soldiers) and was later acquired by the College. The BG came together as a nonprofit in the late 1980s and opened to the public in the early 1990s.

The grounds were beautiful with many flowers in bloom along with lot of well-kept garden features (e.g., sheds, water features, stone pathways). Some gardens consisted of a number of different varieties of one particular flower (e.g., lilies, roses, and a hosta garden that was really impressive even though they were not blooming). They also had a new conifer garden of trees interspersed with other flowing plants; a children's garden complete with sensory garden, two story slide (we did not try it), and pond with koi fish; a gardening library; and a planting demo garden with ideas for home gardens. One particularly interesting planter was a cucumber plant growing right out of a bag of soil!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back and check out the changing seasons. Of course, I just couldn't help but wonder how they keep the perennials alive over winter since everything is outside. We have heard their Christmas lights display is worth the trip- just bring your snowshoes.