Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Certainly it's not anything comparable to the big popular arboretums and botanical gardens those may think of, but for Rockford it's good. It's not a humongous one, but there's plenty of ground to cover and nature to see. Klehm Arboretum has a respectable collection of flowers, plants, and trees. A lot of family activities. There's often some kind of special event going on for children and family things. A lot of the gardens are specific toward one plant species or a family. It of course has better viewing in the spring and summer, but any time of the year has something to check out. The visitor's center is the first place most people come to. Get a map. You can find out where all the gardens are and which paths to go on. It has a pretty cool pond garden in front you should stop at. There's a Prehistoric Garden featuring a T-Rex. Also children will enjoy the Fountain Garden. This is a way to cool off in summer. Even though the programs say there's an admission charge, you can still usually get in free. It's not like there's anyone at the gate. This is best in the summer, but there's also later year activities like hay mazes and whatever.

The Klehm is a bit of a hidden gem. Rockford has the Japanese Gardens and the Nicholas Conservatory and I feel like they are a bit more well known, but the Klehm also is a worthy stop. It's got a nice walking path and is beautiful. We visited to see the current exhibition of giant wood bugs. (Last year they had Lego sculptures, also fun). As a hidden gem, it isn't overrun with people, which is kind of nice.

Beautiful and well-maintained. Friendly service. We spent most of our time in the Children's garden which is also well-kept and such a fun summer activity! There's an interactive stream (bring swimsuit) that ends in a splash pad, an observation tower, ABC garden, pavilion, etc. I think it's best for under 5, but I saw kids of all ages that were enjoying themselves. My little one and our friends just had the best time exploring the river and the whole garden. They also had a cool Lego exhibit! What a great resource for the Rockford area! It was well worth my trip from Madison and we will be back!

Klehm has a new party tent! Concrete floors, aluminum frame w zip up removable walls. These photos from a corprate awards banquet but they specialize in weddings.

I was pleasantly greeted at the visitors center by Carrie. Very helpful and informative. It was absolutely beautiful! The grounds are kept so well! And everyone was so friendly. I had the most perfect fall day, basically all by myself. Couldn't have been more impressed.

I really hate to give an outdoor arboretum one star but this place lacks everything. When you show up at an arboretum on a beautiful, warm day and there's only one other car in the parking lot...take it as a tell-tale sign. I grew up down the street from the Morton Arboretum in Lisle IL. If you want to see how a good arboretum is set up, go there. The biggest problem with Klehm is the absence of a road tour. I'm not sure how many acres they own here but a periphery road for self car tours would have been a no-brainer, especially since many arboretum visitors are elderly or infant. We also didn't understand the use of 'botanical garden' in their title. This is a sad mistruth. The only botanical area here is a small garden by their wedding alcove. The 'botanical' area in my backyard exceeded their offering. The walking paths here are uninspiring and offer little information or ability to learn about the surroundings. The children's area offers a very small 'bush maze' that's completed in seconds. An interpretive building and area would seemingly have more to offer, but they were locked up and closed when we stopped in (the middle of the day on a warm weekend). Puzzling. Also, the outdoor gardens over here were dug up and had nothing to offer.Management needs to take a trip down to Morton and get some ideas for improvement. Our $15 admittance was $14 too much. The only optimistic comment that I can make is with regards to their grounds, they were kept up well.

IMO, incorporating the term Botanic Garden in their name is somewhat misleading. I have been to many botanic gardens and in that respect, Klehm falls short. The botanic garden portion of the grounds is way too small to include the term in the name of the place. However, the arboretum part of the park was excellent. Trees are named with tags and a pamphlet provided gives some nice information about various trees and in some cases, historical uses of the trees. If you are going because you like botanic gardens, I would recommend going elsewhere.

This place is wonderful. The woman working the front desk wasn't the friendliest. But the people working the grounds were extremely helpful and friendly. Prices are pretty reasonable, especially if you're a student.

We stopped here on our way up to Madison and allowed my 3 year old to run around a bit. It is beautiful and peaceful. It has a nice little walk to a pretty children's garden and a splash fountain that my son enjoyed playing in. There are some paths to take walks on that would be relaxing as well. A nice oasis to be with nature. I'm glad we stopped.

I stand by my earlier review. On the day I visited I checked the website and read about gardens, but I did not find those gardens. It was misleading.