Rotary Botanical Gardens

Rotary Botanical Gardens has grown hundreds of All America Selection winners over the years.  Our latest virtual tour video highlights some of the favorites at the Gardens.  By no means is this meant to be an all inclusive summary of what has been grown at the Gardens– there have been so many great ones!!!

For more information:

• All-America Selections

Volunteer Tour Guide, Judy Jones, highlights a few of her favorite aspects of the Japanese Garden.

Audio tour of the founding of Rotary Botanical Gardens by volunteer tour guide, Chuck S.

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As you visit Rotary Botanical Gardens, it is hard  to visualize what existed here 21 years ago, before Dr. Robert Yahr approached the City of Janesville with his plan for the 15 acres that now make up Rotary Botanical Gardens. 

Actually, the forces that have formed the present area acted over 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, known as the Wisconsin. As the climate changed and the mile thick sheet of ice that made up this glacier began  to recede, it left behind masses of sand and gravel, known as a terminal moraine. This material was used for construction and for the manufacture of pre-cast concrete products. This activity still flourishes in the  area today. One of the early producers of material from this site was the Wilcox Sand and Gravel Co., who dredged sand from the area that is the 20 acre spring-fed pond  that bounds the Gardens on three sides. The two-story brick structure adjoining the Parker Center is a remnant of the Wilcox operation. 

During the 1930’s the area was the home of a cattle trader and sales barn. Later, the city laid claim to the property and used it for several years as a storage facility and a BMX track graced the area where the Sunken Garden is. 

When Dr. Yahr and his fellow Rotarians began to remove the many years accumulation of debris from the site, they soon realized that they would need additional help if they were to fulfill the dream of Rotary Botanical Gardens. Incidentally, the name for the gardens comes from the fact that Dr. Yahr is an active member of the local Rotary Club  and that his fellow members were among the first to volunteer; Rotary International has no connection whatsoever with the Rotary Botanical Gardens. The people of Janesville and many area businesses responded with labor, money and materials. The Gardens as they exist today are a tribute to the dream of Dr. Yahr and the dedication of over 300 volunteers who spend many thousands of hours each year to keep the dream alive and growing. The Gardens are supported by memberships, donations, admission fees and rental of the facilities for weddings and meetings. The Gardens receive no tax support. The result is a world-class Botanical Garden with over 4,000 trees, shrubs, plants and flowers. The Gardens have been recognized by  such group as the All-American Selection, Fleuro- select (a European garden group), The Hosta Society, the Iris Society, and the Peony Society. In addition, commercial plant and seed companies  ask us to test-plant new varieties before they are introduced to the public. 

Another of our missions is to educate students and adults through curriculum co-operation with the public schools and also by providing the Master Gardener program as well as hosting classes and seminars on subjects relative to gardening.

Audio tour (and political commentary) by Dave B., volunteer tour guide.

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Audio tour of the Italian and French Formal Gardens of Rotary Botanical Gardens by volunteer tour guide, Chuck Smith.

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People have had gardens since the time long past when they began to settle in groups and ceased being nomadic hunter-gatherers. These gardens were the beginnings of present-day agriculture and were needed for survival. 

 Formal gardens for pleasure and enjoyment date from the 1500’s when people of wealth and power had the means to create them. 

Any formal garden has three features in common: A geometrical layout, a water feature, and statuary. Our Formal Gardens are laid out along an axis from the Cottage Garden to the fountain in the pond. 

Our Italian Garden is the most formal of the gardens here at Rotary Botanical Gardens.  The  partiered beds are  hedged in boxwood and each end is a mirror image of the opposite. One end is planted with perennials and the other with annuals. The four statues represent the four seasons and the Koi pond serves as a water feature.  Koi originated in Japan; the name derives from a Japanese expression for “Swimming Flowers”. They can live quite a long time, as much as 250 years. 

Our French Garden, named because of the many roses grown here and the association of  roses with things French and with perfume. (In 1867,William H. Tallman, a local pharmacist, entered some of his perfumes in an International Exposition in Paris and was awarded a medal!) The circular beds, which give the garden it’s geometric shape,  contain specimens of hardy shrub roses that thrive with minimal care.

There are also some examples of the hybrid tea roses and behind the pergola are examples of the floribunda-type rose. This area forms a perfect setting for a formal wedding with the bride and her attendants standing under the pergola with the fountain in the back-ground and guests seated on the lawn. 

In addition, there is an Herb Garden placed along the arbor vitae hedge to the south of the Italian Garden. This garden is tended by the Janesville Herb Society and has separate beds for aromatic, medicinal and culinary herbs.