Matthaei Botanical Gardens
1800 N. Dixboro Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48105 – Map
Matthaei Botanical Gardens has something for everyone: Outdoor garden spaces featuring bonsai, native plants, and perennials, a garden created just for kids, nearly 3 miles of trails, and an indoor conservatory filled with plants from around the world.
Nichols Arboretum
1610 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor – Map
As you explore Nichols Arboretum you’ll find one of the richest landscapes in the region, including vast panoramas, broad valleys, and intimate dales and glens.
Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum is a transformative force for social and ecological resilience through the waters and lands we steward. We turn this commitment into action by:
- Positioning humans as active participants within the natural world and compelling the university community and our publics to negotiate the full complexity that entails
- Advancing partnerships, programs, user experience, and all that we steward to catalyze equity and justice in a radically changing world
- Emerging as University of Michigan’s premier partner for research, teaching, and public impact in sustainability, climate-forward practices, and biocultural diversity
- Promoting healthier communities, cultures, and ecosystems through active care and cultivation of the gardens, fields, natural habitats, and dynamic systems that sustain our world.
Learn more about our Strategic Plan at this link.
NOW HIRING SUMMER INTERNS!
MBGNA has a wide range of paid internships available for current college/university students in 2023, with 10 areas of interest and flexibility in length, hours, and focus. Learn more and apply here.
FIELD TRIPS
We offer amazing opportunities for classroom groups to visit Matthaei in person or virtually. Both kinds of field trips are easy to schedule, interactive, and fun. Click here or on the image above to learn more.
FREE GUIDED NATURE WALKS
Matthaei Botanical Gardens is hosting free guided nature walks on select Wednesdays and Sundays. These walks are FREE, no registration is required. Details are available here.
Story Sharing
Skunk Cabbage – A Smelly Welcome to Spring
With the advent of spring, many flowers will begin to bloom in the coming weeks. But one species has the jump on the bloom game, its flowers are already fully in bloom. That plant is the eastern skunk cabbage, which gets its name from the sulfurous odor that it emits. You may not want to sniff this flower. Its odor has been described as “nauseous,” “skunky,” and of “putrid meat,” but some people find the odor reminiscent of “garlic,” “fresh cabbage,” and “mustard.”
It Takes Two Trees to Bear Sausages
You may have noticed large corn dog or sausage-like structures hanging from two trees in the Matthaei Botanical Gardens’ conservatory, but you would not want to put these sausages between buns at a ball game. These brats are actually the fruit of the aptly named sausage tree. Humans can’t eat this fruit, which is considered poisonous, but its large size and unique appearance makes it a popular attraction in the conservatory.
A Winter Walk at Matthaei Botanical Gardens
Local Photographer John Metzler shares some images from a winter walk on the trails at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.
Campus Farm Receives Support to Continue Agriculture Internship Program
Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum was named one of seven botanic gardens to receive support to build capacity and leadership in urban agriculture through a partnership of the United States Botanic Garden (USBG), the American Public Gardens Association...
Guided Nature Walks at Matthaei Botanical Gardens
Matthaei Botanical Gardens is hosting free guided nature walks on select Wednesdays and Sundays. These walks are FREE, no registration is required. Matthaei Botanical Gardens' Winter Walks are held most Wednesdays and Sundays through April. These free, guided walks...
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