Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens — Attraction in Overland Park

We have purchased a membership to the arboretum annually, starting back before the pandemic and established a habit of visiting 2-3 times a week. The beautiful gardens and well-maintained trails are appealing and we always thoroughly enjoyed our visits. However, we elected not to renew our membership this spring. There is a growing menace in the gardens which has not been addressed to our satisfaction and which we consider to be a considerable risk. I am speaking of the dogs that are allowed to come and walk the trails. Many of them are sweet peaceful animals but there are some who are a menace to anyone coming near. After 4 threatening episodes within 4 weeks, including an actual bite episode (which was dully reported to Animal Control and there is a record of that), my husband has decided the risk of returning is too great. He loved to go out back and run on the trails along the bluffs, but the animal who nipped him as he was passing (he did not provoke the animal, it simply reached up and nipped him), and other animals who have growled at him as he ran past, have spoiled the lovely time he had enjoyed there. With an 8- to 10-foot leash on a dog on an 4- to 5-foot path, there is no room to run outside the trail as it were. We are concerned that a serious situation could develop and some animal bite some unsuspecting child. I will also mention that we have been dedicated pet owners so we are not opposed to animals per se, just the ones who are allowed to threaten people by their growls or their actions. If you know that your animal is not comfortable around other people, why would you take it to a public place like that? We were very impressed by the system used by the Palm Beach Mounts Botannical Garden, which we visited recently. They only allow dogs on specified days each month and the owner pays an admission fee for the animal just as if it were a person. If you don’t like being around animals, you don’t visit on those...

I love this place, I take my family here all the time for walks. My toddler son loves to run around the train garden and look at the waterfalls. My wife and I enjoy the great variety of flowers and plants all year long. Fun events like the enchanted forest continue to give you incentive to come during winter months.

That said, there are a few things I think could be better. For an attraction that is so ecologically/environmentally centered I find it odd that they haven't switched their vehicles and tools from gas powered to electric. The sound of gas powered engines and smell of fumes as leaf blowers or vehicles go by disrupts the peaceful nature of this place. I also think there could be less focus on some of the grooming of the paths/trails. For instance, I find it funny that someone takes a leaf blower out to the trails that are within the trees and clears them of debris. It's okay if there are a few leaves on the path, it's in a forest! Maybe clear the trails less frequently to reduce the noise/fumes visitors endure.

And then the Longhouse....sigh. I'm grateful that it will most likely rake in money for the gardens which is a good thing. However, I wish it was more complementary to the spirit of the gardens. For instance, the Longhouse brings so much additional concrete to a space that I would prefer to see green...mainly the long path where the pretentious fountains lead out of the Longhouse to the South. I wish there was more landscaping and less concrete. Additionally, if there were no windows in the Longhouse I doubt you would know that you were at a botanical garden...you could just as easily be at a museum, hotel lobby, or conference space. I wish there was more decoration related to the gardens...or even some indoor plants. Perhaps that has improved since I first visited a week...

The arboretum has beautiful water features and gardens traversed by paved paths and mulched paths. There are several picturesque bridges. Many interesting sculptures are scattered about the wooded sculpture garden. It's fun to watch the herd of goats at work.

When we were ready to leave at the end of the day, it was disappointing to discover that the exit doors and gates had been locked. We didn't know how to get to the parking lot. Then we saw an employee driving a golf cart on the other side of a fence and pond. She stopped at our car and put a flyer under the windshield wiper. We yelled at her across the pond and she heard us. She told us which exit was still open. Then she left.

When we got to the car we found that the flyer instructed us that the exit gate for the park was locked and that we would need to call the non-emergency police number. Then a policeman would come and unlock the padlocked gate from the outside to allow us to exit the park! We followed those instructions and waited.... Realizing that we would be low on the priority list for a policeman to spring us from the arboretum, we looked for another exit. We found a grounds person who directed us to another usable exit. Whoever wrote the procedure for calling the police must be quite amused by the situation.

It would make more sense to first of all let visitors know that they must be out of the park by the time the park closes. If exiting the park requires calling the police, this is important information for visitors to know up front.

If visitors are late, perhaps they are lost. Perhaps they need help for some other reason. It would make sense to use employees with golf carts to round up the errant visitors and help them get back to the...