Arboretum & Botanical Garden — Attraction in Moscow

A fantastically magical experience of natural beauty. The experience is deeply restorative to the senses—natural textures, colors, scents flank the main gravel path which is accommodating and crunchy under the feet, marking your rhythm—and also to one’s faith in the goodness of humanity. The human devotion to this piece of land is palpable everywhere you turn.

It’s easy to walk by people if you’re feeling friendly and also easy to subtly avoid people which I always appreciate in a park. Wide lawns, creeksides, muddy banks, bridges, gloomy cedar canopies and a multitude of side paths made of grass, wood chips, pine needles to tempt straying types like myself off the beaten path of made for step counters and into more meandering ways of being.

This arboretum offers delightfully many curated journeys, far more than UW’s. Follow every side path and you’d be here a very long time but you’d also have travelled through many layers of experience, from the heights to the valleys, arid to swampy, sparse to...

The loveliest feature of the university campus’ verdant grounds is the UI Arboretum & Botanical Garden.

You’ll find it in 63 acres, just south of the President’s Residence and the university’s golf course, with undulating Palouse hills in the background.

Open to the public with free admission, the arboretum was laid out on a former hayfield in the early-1980s, although its origins go back way before, to the early 20th century.

In fact you can check out the site of the first arboretum, planted in the 1910s with majestic specimen trees, including a giant sequoia, on the north side of the President’s Residence.

As for the “new” arboretum, this counts more than 17,000 plants from over 2,400 taxa, mostly organized into geographical regions, including Europe, Asia and Eastern and Western North America.

On the south end are exquisite display gardens for xerophytes, ornamental willows, irises and heather, as well as a butterfly garden,...

A beautiful place to take a Saturday or Sunday walk. I suppose anytime of the week is good and, here's the cool part, I bet anytime of the year, too. There are plants from all areas of the world and all seasons here. The fall foliage is going to be spectacular and I'm looking forward to going back Octoberish. You're best bet is to park in the southern parking lot. There is no parking on the northern entrance except on the street. During school terms you must have a permit to park there. So, if you're a U of I student, you're golden but the rest of us shlubs have to park the long way around. Its not so bad, though. There is an outhouse bathroom on the southern end - I didn't see one anywhere else. Oh, one more thing: there are lots of private entrances to the park on the eastern side. While walking in the park, they look like passages to another area but, if you follow them you'll end up in someone's yard. Just be aware of...