EMC Companies
Entry Garden

Free Entry Gardens

Welcome All

The parking lot and entry garden welcomes visitors with a naturalistic planting inspired by the riparian context of the Botanical Garden site.

Seasons of Blooms

In spring, sweeps of 30,000 bulbs wash the Garden’s entrance in yellows (Narcissus) and blues (Muscari).

In summer, broad drifts of Iowa native grasses punctuated with colonies of shrubs, trees and colorful masses of perennials serve as a relief from the city’s hardscape. They are also an abundant reserve for native pollinators, including bumblebees, Monarch butterflies and other Lepidoptera.

Island Planting

The entry garden features a prominent island planting of Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ (Slender Silhouette sweetgum) and arborvitaes surrounded by rich and ebullient seasonal plantings. Together these welcome visitors with the gusto of the Botanical Garden mission.

It’s a Sign

The sign wall across the drive serves both the vehicular and pedestrian arrival experience. Visitors are treated to mass tulip displays in spring and eclectic annual schemes in summer and fall.

A Parking Lot Garden

The parking lot garden peaks in late summer and early autumn with fiery references to Iowa’s prairies. Look for Helenium (Helen’s flower), several species of Solidago (goldenrods) and Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’ (Henry Eilers sweet coneflower). You may also see the rosy haze of Eragrostis spectabilis (purple lovegrass_ and the searing fall color of (Rhus typhina) staghorn sumacs.

The entry garden is made possible through the generosity of EMC Insurance Foundation.

The Gallery