Garden Geography

Geography of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

The street and footpath approaches to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary off of Theodore Wirth Parkway, take you up a small hill. At the top, at the parking lot, you are at about the same elevation as the other surrounding small hills of Theodore Wirth Park. From the lot, you see that the main gate is of lower elevation and that to the left of gate, the slope is further downward, while directly ahead and slightly right the slope tends upward again. This is the setting that gives the Garden its unique configuration of the Woodland Garden to the left with a bog in the lowest part and the Upland Garden of prairie and oak savannah to the right with an elevation change of over 80 feet between the two Gardens. These photos are all from early spring, the best time to see the lay of the land. Once the leaves grow on the shrubs and trees, the vistas will be obscured. More detail on the geography is available.

The Woodland Garden

After entering the front gate, you see directly ahead, on a lower bench of land, the Martha E. Crone Shelter, with the winding path to the left (laid out by Clinton Odell's daughter, Moana) to take you there. Beyond the shelter, the land drops off further to the bog.

From the flat land bench in front of the Martha Crone Visitor Shelter, paths lead in two directions, right and left, downward, to encircle the bog that lies at the center of the depression between hills - the hillsides creating an amphitheater effect. (Click on right photo for a summer view)

Within the central depression forming the bog is a path that connects at either end to the two encircling paths shown above. This path was completed in 1946 by the then Garden Curator, Martha Crone. In the background you see the encircling hillside.

At the far end of the bog, the western most path crosses a rustic bridge of the small stream that drains the bog into the Mallard Pool, shown here in the foreground. The Mallard Pool then drains over a small dam and the water exits the garden near the back (North) gate. The bridge (replacement) and pool were originally constructed in 1932 by Eloise Butler as her last major project in the Garden.

The Upland Garden

A sunny day in the Upland Garden Prairie is delightful, even if the temperature is on the cool side.

Entering the main gate and turning right, you climb up a gentle slope into the Upland Garden. You can see on the left of this photo the land sloping downward toward the Woodland Garden. Ahead is the first small hill with a large oak visible on the next hill beyond. The perimeter fence is on the right. (Click on photo for a summer image)

When you climb the second hill and stand by the large oak (Guidebook Station 44) and look ahead, you see the remainder of the Upland Garden. A third hill ahead (the highest elevation point in the entire Garden) with another large oak, spruce trees to the right. On the farther right lies the newer 1993 addition to the Upland Garden. To the left the encircling paths intersect and one path leads down to the back end (North end) of the Woodland Garden. Click on any photo for a larger image.

This last view is from the perspective of the third hill (the high point of the Garden) looking back toward the oak on the center hill (Station 44). Here again, you see off to the right how the terrain slopes downward into the Woodland Garden.

The Martha E. Crone Visitors Shelter in the Woodland Garden.

The Martha E. Crone Visitor Shelter makes a nice rest stop on your tour of the Garden. During shelter open hours a volunteer or a Naturalist is always there to chat with and answer any questions. Pick up a copy of the Garden Guide, the current list of blooming plants and other informative material. On the left is the Visitor Shelter in the Woodland Garden, as seen from it's west side. On the right is a view from a path in the Upland Garden.