The Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens (the Arboretum) is situated on 74 acres directly east of Hawkeye Community College

Hawkeye Community College

Hawkeye Community College is a community college, with its main campus located just outside Waterloo, Iowa. Hawkeye has several outlying centers in Cedar Falls, Independence, Grundy County, Waverly, and Waterloo. The college serves all of parts of Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler,...

 in Waterloo, Iowa

Waterloo, Iowa

Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population decreased by 0.5% to 68,406. Waterloo is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the more populous of the two...

. The Arboretum is open April through October, dawn to dusk, and admission is free to the public.

The Arboretum is an official site of the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area , also known as America's Agricultural Heritage Partnership is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service...

.

History

The Arboretum was started in the mid nineties by a group of community members wanting a green space in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area

Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area

The Waterloo–Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in Iowa, anchored by the cities of Waterloo and Cedar Falls...

. The firm of Buettner and Associates, Inc. from Fox Point, Wisconsin, teamed with local architect Craig Ritland, from Craig Ritland Landscape Architects to complete the Arboretum’s master plan. The first trees were planted in the spring of 1996 and was named “Sesquicentennial Forest” in honor of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

’s 150th anniversary.

The Arboretum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, independent organization and depends heavily on its volunteer base and community support.

Gardens and Grounds

About half of the original 74 acres is still in corn and soybeans planted by the neighboring college's agriculture department. With an emphasis on the natural world, the buildings, gardens, and artwork have a strong organic theme, tied to Iowa's agriculture roots.

The main areas of the Arboretum include:

• Arrival Gardens - Varied in texture and form, shrubs in the garden include several varieties of viburnum
  Viburnum
  Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny...
  
  , juniper
  Juniper
  Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
  
  , serviceberry
  Serviceberry
  Amelanchier , also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the Rose family .Amelanchier is native to temperate regions...
  
   and ninebark.

• Labyrinth

• Rose Garden - Filled with shrub rose
  Rose
  A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
  
  s hardy to Northeast Iowa.

• Community Gardens - Each 10 by 10-foot display bed is adopted by individuals, community organizations and civic groups who plant and nurture their plots throughout the season.

• Display Gardens - Filled with a variety of annuals
  Annual plant
  An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
  
  , perennials and spring-flowering bulb
  Bulb
  A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
  
  s.

• Enabling Gardens - Situated between the Community and Display Gardens, the flower beds are raised.

• Children's Gardens - with a Railway Garden, Dinosaur Dig, Garden Prairie, and the Peek-a-Boo Forest filled with dwarf conifers.

• Shade Garden - Nestled under a grove of Locust trees, the Shade Garden provides shade on a warm day and showcases the array of sizes and color variations of the Hosta
  Hosta
  Hosta is a genus of about 23–45 species of lily-like plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, native to northeast Asia. They have been placed in their own family, Hostaceae ; like many 'lilioid monocots', they were once classified in the Liliaceae...
  
   family.

• Walking Paths and Prairie - sun-drenched prairie that encompasses a great diversity of native forbs and grass
  Grass
  Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
  
  es. The one-mile walking path through the grounds of the Arboretum.

• Head House & R.J. McElroy Education Center - Located on the north end of the parking lot, the Head House serves as volunteer central and as the summer staff offices. Adjacent to the Children’s Garden, the R.J. McElroy Education Center hosts all children’s programming as well as Arboretum summer events.