Olbrich's Vision
Olbrich Botanical Gardens will be a locally treasured and globally renowned source of beauty and education celebrating the importance of plants in a sustainable world.

Olbrich's Mission
Olbrich Botanical Gardens enriches life by nourishing and sharing the beauty of gardens, the joy of gardening, the knowledge of plants, and the diversity of our world. Olbrich Botanical Gardens is dedicated to the creation, conservation, and interpretation of gardens and plant collections hardy to the American Midwest or native to the world's tropical forests for study, enjoyment, and public benefit.

Description:
Olbrich Botanical Gardens is a City of Madison owned and operated facility within the City's Parks Division. The Gardens benefit from the support of an active friends group, the nonprofit Olbrich Botanical Society. The City and Society work in partnership to provide area residents and visitors with the beautiful botanical garden you see today.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens features 16 acres of outdoor display gardens, all featuring Midwest prairie style architecture. Four original sculptures further enhance the landscaping. Specialty gardens include the Sunken Garden, Eunice Fisher Hosta Garden, Meadow Garden, Rock Garden, Wildflower Garden, Herb Garden, Perennial Garden, Rose Garden, Atrium Shade Garden, Serenity Garden, and Thai Garden.

The Bolz Conservatory--a sunny 50-foot high, 10,000 square foot glass pyramid--houses a diverse tropical collection of ferns, palms, and flowering plants growing in a natural setting. A rushing waterfall, bamboo arbors, and free-flying birds give a realistic feel. The Conservatory's Orchid Aerie exhibit features an ever-changing display of blooming orchids from Olbrich's collection.

Olbrich's Schumacher Horticultural Library is a reference center for botanical information. The staff Resource Information Specialist and volunteer library assistants are available to assist staff. The library collection includes: gardening books, seed catalogs, horticultural magazines, reference collection, and children's book corner. All visitors are welcome to use the library. Members of the Olbrich Botanical Society may check out books. The library is open 10 am to 4 pm.

Olbrich staff and volunteers plan numerous special events to attract new visitors to the Garden, engage and educate members and visitors about plants and their environment, and to raise money to support the Garden. The regular special events are:

• Valentines in Paradise
• Spring Flower Show
• Spring Plant Sale
• Rhapsody in Bloom
• Blooming Butterflies
• Home Garden Tour
• Fall Quilt and Flower Show
• Holiday Flower and Train Show
  
  

History:
Olbrich Botanical Gardens would not exist today if it had not been for the vision and generosity of just one man, Madison attorney Michael B. Olbrich. In the early 1900's, Michael Olbrich envisioned a new park at the northeast end of Lake Monona to provide citizens with a benefit that was becoming increasingly unavailable to them: access to the lakeshore and open space in the heart of an already bustling city. In addition, it was his great hope that the park might one day contain a public flower garden that would enrich the entire city. Single-handedly, Olbrich set about acquiring this property, using $40,000 of his own money and leading two successful community-wide fund raising drives. He then offered the land to the City of Madison at cost and on July 22, 1921, the City took title to its new park. After several decades of efforts to prepare the land for public use, in 1952, the Madison Park Commission voted to commit $22,000 to begin official construction of the "Olbrich Park Gardens."

In addition to public support, a tremendous number of dedicated volunteers from area service clubs and garden centers carried on fund raising efforts to keep the Gardens growing. The Garden Center Club, now called the Olbrich Garden Club, formed in 1962, worked ceaselessly over the next decade to establish funds for a new Garden Center Building. Madison architect Stuart Gallaher was commissioned to design the building--the Atrium; it was dedicated in 1978.

The creation of the new center was accompanied by the establishment of the Olbrich Botanical Society in 1979, a membership organization dedicated to the development and enhancement of Olbrich Gardens. Fund raising by the Society over the next two decades would yield a dazzling array of capital improvements and projects at the Gardens, including a new Herb Garden, Rock Garden, Wildflower Garden, Sunken Garden, Donor's Arbor, Perennial Garden, and, of course, the Bolz Conservatory and Botanical Center.In 1986, architect Stuart Gallaher was again commissioned to create the plans for a greatly expanded Conservatory and Botanical Center adjacent to the original Garden Center building. Spearheaded by a major initial gift from the Bolz Family Foundation, $4.6 million was raised from members and the public to fund the construction of a diamond-domed tropical conservatory and sunlight-filled botanical center, which opened to the public on November 1, 1991.

Following this opening, attendance at the Gardens skyrocketed and by 1997 more than a quarter of a million people were visiting the Garden each year. In the spirit of the vision of Michael Olbrich, the Botanical Society quickly raised the funds needed to acquire the 5-acre Garver property and Building and Madison City Park's Division purchased the adjoining 17 acres needed to complete the city's ownership of 23 acres of open space located directly north of the Gardens for future garden expansion.Two projects underscore how Olbrich Botanical Gardens is a work in progress.
--The new Thai Garden, opened in 2002, brings national attention to Madison's public garden.
--Ground breaking for a spectacular 2-acre, uniquely Midwestern Rose Garden will occur in 2003.

Michael Olbrich's dream endures and the gardens continue to grow.

Contact person: Marty Petillo, Volunteer Services Manager, 608/246-5807, (email)
Office fax number: 608/246-4719

Address:

3330 Atwood Avenue Madison, WI 53704 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.olbrich.org

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: None   Nearest Bus Stop: Route 3, 1 minute minute walk