The Hidden Gardens of Madison Wisconsin

Two weeks ago, in THIS POST I shared that for our anniversary we went to Madison, Wisconsin for the weekend.  In that post, I only showed the Olbrich Botanical Gardens because I had so many photos it was already too long for most readers.  We did however, visit three other smaller gardens in the city of Madison that I wanted to talk about; so this week's travel post will show the rest of the garden hopping we did in Madison Wisconsin.

Period Garden Park

Period Garden park is a small garden open to the public in downtown Madison.  It was so hard for us to find because it's not that visible from the street. Even with GPS we couldn't see it from our vehicle.  We finally decided to park the car and get out and walk and it was then we discovered "the park" was actually the front lawn of an old home.  In 1972 the owner of the property wanted to build an apartment complex on the lot, but a group of private citizens felt it would have ruined the aesthetics of the Victorian neighborhood so they purchased the property and turned it into a public park/garden.  I didn't take any photos except the one above as it was so small (.235 acres) but I thought it was cool that a group of citizens and volunteers have purchased the property to keep the historic significance and also made it accessible to everyone to enjoy.

You can see more photos of Period Garden Park HERE.

University of Wisconsin - Madison Botany Garden

Next we went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus to enjoy their Botany Garden.  A pond filled with koi and a pretty gazebo was its star attraction.

Allen Centennial Garden

Our last stop was the Allen Centennial Garden, and this garden is really worth the stop if you're ever in the Madison area.

This garden is also free and open to the public from dawn to dusk for everyone to enjoy. 

According to its website:  

"Allen Centennial Garden is the artful living laboratory and public botanical garden of the Horticulture Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Garden serves as an outdoor classroom for UW-Madison students and the surrounding communities, providing meaningful learning opportunities for visitors of all ages."

This beautiful garden is the backyard of another historic home.  The home isn't occupied now, but it once served as the Agricultural Dean's Residence.  The ground breaking of the garden was in 1985.  The garden is two and half acres.

There is lots of architectural interest in the garden such as the gazebo above and the stunning red bridge below.  

There are six different gardens at the Allen Centennial Garden:  Japanese/Cottage Garden, New American Garden, French & Italian Garden, English Garden, Rock Garden, and a Woodland Garden.

It seemed odd to see modern university buildings in the background of the garden.  It's like a small spot of Eden in the midst of an urban jungle.

The pond was filled with lily pads and koi.  

I just loved the red bridge.  The color really popped in the sea of green.  

The house was closed up tight when we were there.  I have no idea if the home is ever open for tours, but I would have loved to have seen the inside.

This is the front of the house and what it would like from the street if you were just pulling up in your car.

There are so many meandering paths leading to different styles of gardens.  This inviting path pictured below led to the shade garden on the side of the house.  I gathered lots of ideas for my home garden.  I loved the idea of creating lots of different styles of garden in your own yard while considering all the different ecoclimates one could have in a large space.  My yard for example has hot dry spots but also moist cool areas.  Different types of gardens could be created that thrive in those areas of my yard.

There were multiple gazebos and spots to sit and just enjoy the view.

The area in the front of the house opposite of the shade garden was very sunny so a nice circular front lawn was put in bordered by sun perennials.

There were even gardens up against the foundation of the house.

We really enjoyed finding and exploring all the hidden gardens of Madison Wisconsin.  It was like being on an adventurous quest!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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