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.
Story Sharing
Honoring Foodways: Refugee-Focused Community Garden Celebrates its First Year
Grown from an idea that University of Michigan student Phimmasone Kym Owens cultivated, a collaboration between Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County (JFS) and Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) has given rise to an area that has been dubbed by its users as “The Refugee Garden”, a space where resettled refugees can grow their own food through community gardening.
New Rare Plant Census Highlights MBGNA’s Conservation Potential
When thinking about endangered species, charismatic animals like tigers typically come to mind. But many plant species are endangered or threatened too. Endangered plants are worth protecting because when plant species are lost, not only is the world a less vibrant place, but human communities risk losing essential products and services. Plants are the base of nearly all terrestrial food webs, converting the sun’s energy into food for us all. Some plants provide medicines while others provide essential habitat to animals, including people (the wood used to make houses comes from trees).
What Makes a Migratory Monarch?
Part of Green’s research at Matthaei Botanical Gardens aims to better understand the physiological switch that is flipped in monarch butterflies to create migratory populations in fall. “Whether it’s changing gene activity, hormonal changes, or some other potential mechanism that generates the difference is what we are studying,” said Green.
A Tree’s Continuing Contribution
By keeping this tree here to decompose naturally, the staff at the Botanical Gardens is letting nature take its course. Even though it might look odd, the ecosystem is benefiting from the tree in several ways. Downed trees are just one excellent example of how nothing in nature goes to waste.
Preparing Your Garden for Winter
As the days become colder and flowers fade and turn brown, many gardeners begin prepping their spaces for winter by cutting down spent blooms, stems, and leaves. However, by leaving the plants intact, gardeners can provide a variety of benefits to area insects and birds over the cold winter months.
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