Stroll through Lauritzen Gardens and experience the beauty of the season. In addition to Lauritzen Gardens’ beautiful outdoor spaces, it is also home to the 32,000-square-foot Visitor and Education Center, Café and Gift Shop.
Visitor and Education Center
Start your time at the Lauritzen Gardens in the Visitor and Education Center. Inside you will find a 5,000-square-foot floral display hall, an education wing with two classrooms and one of the region’s only horticultural libraries. In addition, the Visitor and Education Center houses the Lauritzen Gardens Café and Gift Shop.
Gardens
Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary
This four-acre site features seven regional plant communities and many different species of trees and shrubs. As you stroll through the Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary, delight in young trees and beautiful vistas. As a natural flyway for migratory birds, this area is also a unique area to observe birds. In the spring, be sure to look and listen for polliwogs, tadpoles and frogs in the marsh area.
Festival Garden
The Festival Garden can be found nestled against naturalistic limestone walls. Perennials and annuals are part of this garden composition while among the plants you will spot amur maple, redbud, American yellowwood and clove currant. Additionally Fountain Garden features the Geese Fountains. Located at the garden’s edge, the fountains were purchased from a private garden in Omaha and each feature seven pieces cast from lead and then welded together.
Garden in the Glen
The Garden in the Glen is a tranquil space with towering trees that provide deep shade, a 300-foot-long stream and upland plantings. Highlights include its hosta collection as well as other terrestrial plants like sugar maple, Saskatoon serviceberry, beech, witchhazel, rhododendron, azalea, smooth sumac and arborvitae.
The Garden of Memories
Serving as a symbolic space for the celebration of life’s milestones, the Garden of Memories features three distinct sections, each representng a different stage of life. At its center is a 40-foot-wide half-circle reflecting pool. Additionally, the garden features a bronze sculpture of a single Canada goose by sculptor Kent Ullberg.
Rose Garden
Dedicated in September of 1997, the Rose Garden features nearly 2,000 rose plants. Delight in hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, and climbing and shrub roses. The best time to see the roses is during their peak blooming seasons, the first in late May and the second beginning around the 15 of September.
Song of the Lark Meadow
Named after the short story of the same name by Willa Cather, the Song of the Lark Meadow boasts beautiful wildflowers as well as other native Nebraska flowers and grasses. Meander through the garden and delight in black-eyed Susan, prairie grasses, dwarf red plains coreopsis, lemon mint, red corn poppy, yarrow and blanket flower.
Spring Flowering Walk
During the spring, stroll through the David and Pamela Gross Family Spring Walk featuring thousands of spring flowering bulbs and spring flowering trees and shrubs. You will find magnolias; a variety of crabapples; redbud, dogwood and serviceberry shrubs; and bulbs including crocus, grape hyacinth and daffodils.
Peony Garden
Between the English Perennial Border and the Victorian Garden is the Peony Garden. Created in 2006, this garden features Chinese and Japanese tree peonies as well as herbaceous peonies.
Victorian Garden
Combining dramatic characteristics of English and Victorian gardens, the Victorian Garden offers much to explore. Upon entering the Victorian Garden, two terra cotta ladies’ faces, in front of the garden’s reflecting pool, will greet you. As you wander further into the garden you will come to its center with a sunken garden that emphasizes the formal beds. Perimeter borders are casual and include perennial flowers as well as shrubs and vines. Be sure to keep an eye out for pots, urns and salvaged balustrades hidden throughout the garden.
Woodland Waterfall
Near the Festival Garden, Woodland Waterfall features a waterfall, two ponds and the New Friends sculpture by Karl Jensen. Surrounding Woodland Waterfall’s three main features are shrubs, perennials and inviting benches where visitors can relax.
Start or end your time at the Lauritzen Gardens in the Café. Located in the Visitor and Education Center, the Café serves freshly prepared sandwiches, soups, salads and desserts all made by Hap Abraham Catering.
Shopping in the Gift Shop
The 2,000-square-foot Gift Shop in the Visitor and Education Center is a unique shopping destination. Garden gifts, home décor, books, cards, clothing, jewelry, and luxury lotions, soaps and scents are just some of the items available to purchase.
Travel Tips
- In addition to its gardens, the Lauritzen Gardens often feature special exhibits and events.
- Photography is permitted for private, non-commercial use.