Photo gallery Spring splendor
Little can compare to spring in the UW Arboretum — especially when that spring was slow to show its face. In the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens, the blossoming trees, buzzing bees and strutting turkeys celebrate the return of warm weather in Madison. Alongside, people take pictures of the transient blooms and each other, or simply relax with loved ones in the peaceful space full of fragrance. The 35-acre Longenecker Gardens have more than 2,500 species and boast impressive collections of lilacs and crabapples. Though spring is especially charming in the gardens, the plants and animals put on a show year-round.
The splendor of the Arboretum often provides a backdrop for moments of irresistible cuteness. Thea Graper, age 1, smiles for photographer Tiffany Bekx and mother Cierra Graper. Photo by: Jeff Miller
A flowering crabapple tree, having withstood winter as well as April's false spring, waited for exactly the right moment to bloom. Photo by: Jeff Miller
A passing bicyclist takes a detour from a popular Arboretum path to photograph magnolia blossoms. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Snow-white petals (if you don't mind one last reference to winter) adorn a blossoming crabapple tree. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Someday, Vanessa Flores will look at the picture her godsister Ashley Vences took and remember her youthful romp through the Arboretum. Photo by: Jeff Miller
All through the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens are brilliant splashes of spring color. Photo by: Jeff Miller
"They'll never find us here," UW–Madison alumnus Dom Lark is probably telling son Donovan during a family game of hide-and-seek. Photo by: Jeff Miller
There's no place a bumblebee would rather be than pollinating the flowers of a buckeye tree. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Kelli Miner, left, and Micah Buffat embrace the moment in one of the Arboretum's inviting open spaces. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Thomas Grist, professor of radiology in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, treats his parents, Franklin and Mary Grist, to an outing that included a photogenic moment in front of a blossoming crabapple tree. Photo by: Jeff Miller
This magnificent crabapple tree, a Donald Wyman variety, is a memorial in honor of Jacob and Leona Munz. Photo by: Jeff Miller
A magnolia tree marks another of its lifetime of springtimes by leafing out in the Longenecker Gardens. Photo by: Jeff Miller
The delicate pattern of a Norway maple's young leaves rivals the splendor of the many flowering trees. Photo by: Jeff Miller
Flowers with fragrance, like this lilac, are a bonus among the gardens' sensory delights. Photo by: Jeff Miller
The Troia Arch seems to have emerged organically from among the trees as evening in the Arboretum approaches. Photo by: Jeff Miller
