Posted October 16, 2025
The Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI, characterize an oasis of plant growth within a city of concrete and metal. This garden sits in northeast Madison just past downtown, on the edge of Lake Monona. The large conservatory can be seen from the parking lot outside. But what can’t be seen is the seventeen-acre garden hiding in the center. Seventeen acres of grown, kept up, and natural plant growth, open to all willing to witness its beauty.
Inside the lobby, volunteers greet newcomers from behind a central desk piled with maps, brochures, and packets of the garden’s history.
One of the volunteers is seventy-three-year-old Lois Anderson, who’s been volunteering at Olbrich for years. “Well, I originally lived in San Francisco with just my mom and sister. But she passed, so it’s just been me and my sister out here for some twenty-odd years. Sometimes she’ll be here with me, too,” she says.
Anderson has been volunteering during the summer at Olbrich for four years. “It changes a lot year to year, I mean, it’s different every year I come around.”
A big part of what she does at Olbrich is guiding and informing newcomers. However, her opinion can only go so far when visitors are deciding where to go first.
To the left of the lobby is a 10,000 square foot walk-through tropical conservatory. One can feel the air getting warmer when moving closer to the entrance.
There’s a six-dollar fee for adults to enter the area, but once inside, you get a taste of something unseen in America. Colors pop from the greenery, and one gets the sense they’re not at home anymore.
Butterflies began blooming heavily inside the space from early to mid-July. The number of species is as many as nineteen during the summertime. This seasonal experience definitely gets the attention of kids.
On a weekend day in mid-July, one child spotted a black and yellow butterfly, exclaiming, “Bumblebee!”
Many volunteers are present inside the conservatory, bringing a much deeper level of knowledge to everyday visitors. Kim North, the garden’s director of education, highlighted the volunteers’ heavy focus on teaching people about the beauties of the park. “They have become so knowledgeable about butterflies and their life cycle, and how to share that with people,” said North.
The conservatory, though a big hit, isn’t exactly the reason for the park’s state-wide appeal. The real scale and draw is what lies outside, just to the right of the help desk.
The “Great Lawn” spreads out in a perfect round patch of grass that is ringed by trails leading to individual gardens. A trolley tour offers a narrated overview, but Anderson tells first-timers to utilize the walking paths.
There are between ten and twenty individual gardens inside the park that are open at all times. Each space features different species of plants, often built in or around some type of infrastructure.
The sunken garden is supposedly a fan-favorite, per Anderson’s recommendation. This garden is one of the first you come across when entering the park and features a thirty-foot fountain with flowers and shrubs around it, meant to resemble a sort of sunken city.
There are twenty distinct gardens inside the whole outdoor park, meaning there’s something for either an outdoor enthusiast or someone looking to enjoy a day outdoors.
One area sits on the outskirts of the park, and draws the most consistent crowd during the day, according to Anderson. It’s on the far east corner of the park map and over a bridge. There sits a royal Thai pavilion. It’s one of only four in the world outside of Thailand. During the day, visitors gather under the roof of the building, supported only by beams.
Its shiny gold appearance is a testament to its function as a status symbol in Thailand. The building was a gift from the Thai government, which constructed it, then sent the finished work to the garden in 2001. Almost twenty-five years later, and there it sits, with many tourists snapping photo after photo.
On the other side of the park sits a small area specifically called the event garden. This is a reserved space that guests may reserve for events. Summer weddings make this spot especially popular.
The outdoor garden is open year-round with normal hours, and is said to be especially unique in the late spring and early autumn. Guests can enter in the winter, though much less is visibly seen.
Olbrich attracts hundreds of thousands each year to its large but well-managed property. Guests inside look alive, as do the many volunteers patrolling the lobby and park. It’s as if everyone is harmonizing around this very rare shared space.
The Olbrich Botanical Gardens give Wisconites and outside visitors a taste of what forms when humans and nature coexist peacefully. It serves as a reminder of what natural beauty is and what good memories can form from it.
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2025/10/the-olbrich-botanical-gardens-madisons-urban-flora/.