2025 year-in-review

Here's a look at a few highlights from the past year!
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Arboretum News
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You made an impact!

Thank you to everyone who supported the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in 2025! We are humbled to share an overview of the incredible accomplishments we achieved together this year, thanks to the generosity of our Arboretum community.

 

  • We welcomed nearly 700,000 visitors to explore 21 display and model landscapes, 28 specialty gardens and 44 curated plant collections — featuring more than 6,100 plant taxa.
  • Our Youth and Adult Education programming engaged more than 65,000 participants.
  • 1,236 dedicated volunteers partnered with us to provide 41,666 hours of service.
  • Two new apples developed at the Horticultural Research Center at the Arboretum, Big Flirt™ and SuperSnap™, were introduced as part of the University of Minnesota's Superior Fruit Innovations program.
  • Also part of the Superior Fruit Innovations program, the University unveiled three new cold-hardy, seedless table grapes developed at the Horticultural Research Center as part of the Northern Glo™ Series — LumiGlo™, EmberGlo™ and ShadowGlo™ — expanding high-quality fruit options for northern climates. These new varieties were showcased in a pilot consumer survey at the Minnesota State Fair, generating valuable public feedback and visibility.
  • “Transplanting Traditions,” a living story garden co-curated by three Minnesotans (Naima Dhore, Zongxee Lee and Chidi Chidozie) and designed to empower others to reconnect with the gardening traditions of their home countries, opened in the Teaching Garden.
  • Thanks to the generosity of our 2025 Gala in the Gardens supporters, we were able to invest in a state-of-the-art Niftylift SD64, helping our arborists safely care for approximately 46,000 trees across our 1,200 acres.
  • We developed a new strategic plan to guide the Arboretum through the next five years, aligning goals and resources to create lasting impact.
  • We celebrated the groundbreaking of our new entrance, kicking off our multi-phase Building a Better Arboretum Project, which will enhance the overall visitor experience for members and future generations of gardeners, researchers, horticulturists and nature lovers.

Thank you for helping the Arboretum thrive in 2025!