Designed by Scott Berry of Ellerbe Becket, the Visitor Center will serve as the formal entry point to the Arboretum gardens and collections. Joined with the Snyder Building by a covered walkway, the new center will allow the Arboretum to better utilize its historic architecture, echoing its character and providing expanded space for interactive exhibits and demonstrations, classrooms, an auditorium, gift shop, restaurant and outdoor terrace. The renovated Marian Andrus Learning Center will allow the Arboretum to renew its commitment to help children understand and appreciate the role plants play in daily life. In the Sally Oswald Education Wing, two new hands-on educational labs will allow the Arboretum to reach children and their families more effectively. Construction on the new building is currently under way, with school programs to resume in February 2001.
Unpredictable weather makes it difficult to forecast income based on attendance.
But a dramatic glass conservatory, a spectacular crystalline structure, will educate and delight visitors with year-round indoor gardens, no matter what the weather. Extensive new plantings along Highway 5 will prominently feature many of the Horticultural Research Center's plant introductions to welcome visitors and invite passersby to visit the Arboretum. Protecting the long-term integrity and ambiance of the Arboretum can only be accomplished by purchasing as much nearby watershed property as possible. Land purchases are essential to the future environmental health of the Arboretum's grounds, gardens, collections and research plots. Click here to read the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Fact Sheet.