The Gardens at SIUE

The Gardens at SIUE The Gardens at SIUE is a 35 acre public garden on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. No parking permit is required to visit The Gardens.

The Gardens currently include natural areas, gardens, and outdoor sculptures. The Gardens currently includes natural areas, gardens, and outdoor sculptures. The Gardens are open to the public and free parking is available at two lots on Arboretum Lane.

Special thanks to 4H of Madison County that came out to The Gardens today to help clean gum balls off the trail. Gum bal...
04/02/2026

Special thanks to 4H of Madison County that came out to The Gardens today to help clean gum balls off the trail. Gum balls are the seed pods that drop from Sweet Gum trees. If you ever stepped on a gum ball, you would understand the need to clean them up. The kids and parents were very hard working and really made a difference.

What's in bloom this week at The Gardens at SIUE!
04/01/2026

What's in bloom this week at The Gardens at SIUE!

Last fall, our Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists planted daffodils next to the bridge over the bike trail and alon...
03/25/2026

Last fall, our Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists planted daffodils next to the bridge over the bike trail and along the walkway near Meyer Plaza. Come and see them this spring!

What's In Bloom in The Garden This Week:
03/25/2026

What's In Bloom in The Garden This Week:

We're back! Spring brings tulips, daffodils, and weeds. But it also brings the Master Gardeners and Master Naturalist ba...
03/25/2026

We're back! Spring brings tulips, daffodils, and weeds. But it also brings the Master Gardeners and Master Naturalist back to maintaining the Gardens at SIUE.

The dawn of this spring day shines light on all that is blooming at the SIUE Gardens. Photos taken by one of our volunt...
03/25/2026

The dawn of this spring day shines light on all that is blooming at the SIUE Gardens. Photos taken by one of our volunteers, Jerry Weinberg.

Fall Color Watch!It's taking a bit longer this year to see fall colors but some trees are starting to change. There is a...
10/23/2025

Fall Color Watch!
It's taking a bit longer this year to see fall colors but some trees are starting to change. There is a beautiful sweet gum tree turning red as you first turn into Arboretum Drive.

The Sassafras trees are also a beautiful yellow, gold, and orange and can be seen throughout the garden.

The Dogwood trees are losing their orange/red leaves. If you have a dogwood tree, don't prune any branches in the fall unless the branches are dead. Dogwood create their buds in the fall. If you prune the tree now, you will not have flowers in the spring!

Look for purple berries on a bush. These are American Beautyberry, native to the Midwest. The bush create berries in the fall and are a great source of food for the birds for the winter. Don't prune Beautyberry until after the berries are gone or in the late winter.

Black Walnut leaves fall early. They also produce a hard green casing around the nut. These can be slippery when stepped on, so take care around Black Walnut trees.

Fall has arrived at SIUE Gardens! Entering the Gardens at Tree Top Bridge you can begin to discover the changing landsc...
10/17/2025

Fall has arrived at SIUE Gardens! Entering the Gardens at Tree Top Bridge you can begin to discover the changing landscape with colorful leaves starting to blanket the area.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Autumn is officially here! One of the first trees turning in The Gardens is the Sassafras ...
10/08/2025

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
Autumn is officially here! One of the first trees turning in The Gardens is the Sassafras tree. This tree is native to the area. It starts out as a small shrub and can grow between 30-50 feet tall. A single tree can spread by root suckers to make a colony of multiple trees so pruning the suckers is essential.

The roots of the Sassafras tree were once used as a drink resembling root beer.

Identifying a Sassafras tree is easy. The leaves come in three shapes, single ovate leave, two-lobed that looks like a mitten-shaped and three-lobe that looks like a ghost.
You can find several Sassafras trees on the Western edge of the Butterfly Garden. Look for the red/orange ghosts!

Source:
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=i820

It's a great time to take a walk in The Gardens. Butterflies are migrating so this is a great time to see them. Butterfl...
09/10/2025

It's a great time to take a walk in The Gardens. Butterflies are migrating so this is a great time to see them. Butterflies like warm and they like sun. They are most active after 10am when the sun is out and they can warm themselves. See them in the Butterfly garden, along President's Walkway, and in the Prairie Portal areas.

Address

6 Arboretum Lane
Edwardsville, IL
62026

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 7pm
Tuesday 7am - 7pm
Wednesday 7am - 7pm
Thursday 7am - 7pm
Friday 7am - 7pm
Saturday 7am - 7pm
Sunday 7am - 7pm

Telephone

(618) 650-3070

Website

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The Gardens at SIUE is a 36 acre public garden on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The Gardens are maintained by university and private support, including significant volunteer hours contributed annually by Madison County Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists. The Gardens currently includes natural areas, gardens, and outdoor sculptures. The Gardens are open to the public and free parking is available at two lots on Arboretum Lane. No parking permit is required to visit The Gardens.

Note: This is the official page of The Gardens, maintained by SIUE and Gardens volunteers.