116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
In full bloom
Visit ISU’s Reiman Gardens, a Top 10 North American garden
It’s human nature to overlook the treasures in your own backyard, but a recent international award for Reiman Gardens in Ames should make Iowans take notice. In November, this horticultural showplace at Iowa State University was named one of the “Top 10 North American Gardens Worth Traveling For” at the International Garden Tourism Conference in Victoria, British Columbia. The list also includes the Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Jardines de Mexico in Morelos, Mexico.
As the only major university botanical garden in Iowa, Reiman Gardens has 26 distinct garden areas as well as numerous art installations and outdoor sculptures. Whether you’re looking for ideas for your home yard, want to learn more about plants, or just love beauty, it’s worth making a trip to Ames to see this ISU gem.
If you go
What: Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens
When: October to April 1, open daily, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; May to September, open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: 1407 University Blvd., Ames
Cost: $12 adults; $6 children 2 to 12
For more information: (515) 294-2710, reimangardens.com
Details: Outdoor season at Reiman Gardens officially opens April 1 with the monthlong event “Spring Enchantment,” which includes an exhibit of fairy doors and creature homes created by local artists and scattered throughout the property.
“We do our best to make Reiman Gardens a beautiful and inspiring destination that’s also educational,” said Andrew Gogerty, manager of marketing and communications. “People come here to get ideas for their own garden projects and to learn about botanical diversity and environmental conservation. As they walk through the gardens, we hope they’ll watch for signs that link to URL codes with more information about what they’re seeing. We also offer a wide variety of guided tours and educational programs, from floral design workshops and landscaping classes to yoga in the gardens.”
As part of the university’s mission as a land grant institution, ISU has had a horticulture garden since 1914. After shifting locations several times through the decades, the garden was moved to a larger and more visible site near Jack Trice Stadium in 1994. The plants were transplanted and a design firm was hired to create buildings in the Prairie School of architecture associated with Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1995 Reiman Gardens reopened, with a new name in honor of alumnus Roy Reiman and his wife, Bobbi, who were generous supporters of the project.
Through the years the original five-acre site has been expanded to 17 acres. More than 6,000 types of plants grow at Reiman Gardens, including cultivars developed at ISU, native plants, exotics and All-American selections. Here you can stroll through gardens focusing on aromatic herbs, prairie species, water-wise plantings and spectacular annuals. Take special note of the Griffith Buck Rose Collection, which showcases hardy roses developed by an ISU horticulture professor. Buck, who believed that roses should be as easy to grow as dandelions, developed nearly 100 rose cultivars over his four decades at the university.
An indoor conservatory complex makes Reiman Gardens a destination no matter what the weather. In addition to meeting spaces, staff offices and a gift shop, it includes the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing, a 2,500-square-foot, glass-walled structure with hundreds of dazzling butterflies from dozens of species fluttering amid the plants. At the other end of the complex is the Hughes Conservatory, where lush tropical plants thrive even in the midst of winter.
In 2021 Reiman Gardens added a major new section called Sycamore Falls, which has water cascading down native limestone walls into a reflecting basin, as well as an ornamental tower amid landscaping of grasses, evergreens and blooming annuals and perennials. At the top of the falls is a viewing deck (made from wood repurposed from downed campus trees) that provides an expansive view of the rest of the gardens. The area is named after seven 80-year-old sycamore trees that anchor the site.
Each year Reiman Gardens selects a theme that shapes its programming and exhibitions. As part of this year’s theme of “The Living Landscape,” 11 life-size, fully accessible playhouses will be in the gardens from June 1 through Sept. 30. Designs include a Hobbit house, prairie schoolhouse, vine house, woodland tent, moss garden playhouse, a library-themed “Dear Reader” playhouse and a burrow. Some of the custom-built structures were created by in-house staff and volunteers and others by regional craftsmen.
“Each of the houses is meant to be played in, because part of our mission is to get kids outside and off their digital devices,” said Gogerty. “Families can easily spend half a day here.”
In addition to an annual theme, Reiman Gardens also has seasonal displays, including more than 50,000 tulips, hyacinths and other flowers that bloom in the spring and lighted outdoor installations during the holiday season. In the Hughes Conservatory, upcoming exhibits range from a “Life on the Lanai” Hawaiian theme for summer and a fall pioneer theme to Santa’s Workshop with a RG Express miniature train in the winter.
And before you leave, be sure to visit Reiman Gardens’ most famous resident: Elwood, who at 15 feet and 3,500 pounds is the World’s Largest Concrete Gnome. His name honors Philip Homer Elwood, an ISU professor of landscape architecture who died in 1960. The original Elwood would no doubt be pleased to see how Reiman Gardens celebrates ISU’s distinguished horticultural legacy.
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