Six Secrets of the DABG
The Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are rich with history, culture and intrigue. Discover these little known secrets this summer … only a hop, skip and a jump away!
1. The Lizard- Find this fella( near the Hosta Show Gardens) and find a great time! The Lizard has been designed with whimsy and with families in mind. The sculpture offers the ultimate summer scavenge with varying degrees of difficulty. Test your nature sense.
2. The Garden Room Gallery- Within the Heinemann Welcome Center you will find two original wall murals created by local artists Donna Slade and Renee Meyer. These beautiful murals were painted in 2008 to depict favorite DABG scenes.
Also on display is a winsome sculpture of a young boy and girl taking shelter under a large umbrella. The statue originally served as a fountain. It is one of two sculptures that survived the devastating flood of Union Park in 1919.
offered the structures to the area’ s non-profit organizations.
The DABG acquired several of these stately lamps and posts. They were sandblasted and rewired, and are now located in the entry and parking lot of the DABG.
6. The Romance of the Lagen Gazebo Rings
Sixty-nine couples“ tied the knot” at the DABG in 2015. To date, sixty-nine reservations are booked for the 2016 season with many more scheduled in 2017. The showy spirea hedges surrounding the gazebo are sculpted in the shape of traditional wedding rings and are visible from the Heinemann Center second floor viewing deck.
3. Gruff‘ n’ Stuff- A children’ s garden on the grounds portrays the well-loved tale of“ The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Three goat brothers and a troll compose the primary characters in the story. The grisly troll figure displayed in the storybook garden was carved by a DABG volunteer years ago from the trunk of a fallen basswood tree found on the Loras College campus. Annually, the unsightly beast is soaked in old motor oil to preserve the wood and to keep the character good‘ n’ ugly.
4. The Gospel Truth- DABG trail hikers are often surprised to come upon a child-size chapel nestled in the woods. This little white church is larger than a dollhouse, but“ smaller than the back of a pickup,” says DABG Association President Jack Frick. It is also a great location to plan a photo shoot!
5. The Glow by Evening- In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the streets of downtown Dubuque were lined with gas-operated lighting. Lamplighters moved from post to post in the early evening hours to light the lamps … and again by day to extinguish them.
In 1916, the gas lights were changed-over to electric. Urban renewal necessitated the removal of the lampposts. The city
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