Back to all gardens

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden Family Garden

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden

Coordinated by Vickie Detroy, Karen Green, and Karin Hammond

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden Family Garden

The Family Garden at Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden is an interactive place for both children and parents to learn about nature and gardening while having fun. The Garden features several small or pocket gardens, including a sensory (herb) garden, a pollinator garden, and a butterfly garden.  The Native Shrub Cultivars Garden showcases cultivars of native shrubs suitable for use in the home landscape, rather than the commonly used and often invasive foreign shrubs. There is a large “bug hotel” in the pollinator garden which demonstrates the variety of materials insects use for shelter.  There are also mini habitats for birds, bats, butterflies and toads. Examples of appropriate man-made housing for these creatures are found in each mini habitat.

Wally, the life size carved black walnut bear, happily poses on a bench surrounded by flowers, giving young and old a great photo opportunity to remember their visit.  There is an interactive sign for children showing plants with “animal” names and encouraging them to “safari” through the garden to find the plants.  There is a labyrinth for toddlers with a wishing well in its center.  As children walk the the sidewalk and into the gazebo, there are colorful games such as hopscotch, How Far Can You Jump? and Tic-tac-toe.

A colorful friendly snake painted on the sidewalk near the entrance welcomes everyone into the garden.  At the entrances are kiosks which contain information about gardening and nature, much of which may be taken home by visitors. There is a “treehouse”  under the hackberry tree that provides a raised site to view many of the habitats. Additionally the Garden features a bubbling rock fountain — which is fun for the children and the birds and is an example of a water feature that conserves water, does not harbor mosquitoes or present a drowning hazard —  as well as a “bug house” with a slate roof. New additions are added to the Garden each year.

DECEMBER 2024 UPDATE: We have had a great year in the Family Garden at Mesker Park Zoo. Our final event was “Boo at the Zoo” the weekend of October 25. We had a record number of visitors during the event with a total of 5800 coming through the Garden — we had to close up early on Sunday evening as we ran out of candy (all donated by volunteers)! Eight educational events promoted interactions with 2200 visitors. The average number of visitors coming through the Garden was 1737 each summer day. We are looking forward to 2025 and have ideas for additional improvements. We have one more work day in December to decorate for the holidays.

NOVEMBER 2024 UPDATE: We completed our year of educational events with well over 2000 educational interactions with children. Right now, we have plans to host 8 educational events in 2025. Attendance was excellent with 213,651 visitors from May 1st – August 31st. That averages out to 1737 visitors daily for the four-month period. Our “Boo at the Zoo” was our final event of the year, with an average expected daily attendance of 1500 trick-or-treating children.

SEPTEMBER 2024 UPDATE: We have a new addition. We placed a cute penguin under the gazebo in the garden for families to have an additional opportunity for photos of their children. Our penguin does not have a name as yet – we are asking for visitors to give us name suggestions during our educational event “Butterflies” on August 24. We will let you know the new name in next month’s newsletter.

AUGUST 2024 UPDATE: We have been busy with visitors even with the heat.  In July we completed the installation of a picket fence to make the  walkways through the garden safer for visitors. Prior to the fence installation, it was possible to cut through from the main zoo walkway directly into the garden using uneven terrain and through an area with plants. Children especially used the short cut when they saw the popular wishing well. The Fun in the Family Garden events for July were “Bird Olympics” and “Bees Please,”  with August events being “Good Bugs” and “Butterflies.”

JULY 2024 UPDATE: The Family Garden celebrated National Pollinator Week by providing shelter with the Bug Inn and a creek bed filled with zinnias! Two of our team created a habitat for bugs by filling it with leaves, wood, and more. On Saturday, June 22 the team hosted an educational event providing information on the importance of pollinators and the crucial role they play in our food supply. Four stations were set up in the garden: 1. What are pollinators 2. How can we help the pollinators 3. Flowers with nectar and pollen 4. Pollinator sticks for a children’s activity showing how pollinators gather pollen.

JUNE 2024 UPDATE:  BIG NEWS – the Family Garden has been approved as a “Certified Monarch Conservation Habitat!” The team has been very busy. End of the school year field trips provided dozens of children of all ages. On one recent workday, twelve buses arrived soon after work began, making the work day that much more challenging – but also entertaining!

MAY 2024 UPDATE: Mesker Park Zoo celebrated Earth Day on a beatiful sunny day — Saturday, April 13. The SWIMGA Zoo Team held an event we called “Party for the Planet”!  After visitors were welcomed into the Garden, they encountered a station about the history of Earth Day. Children could select a “wish” that they could drop into the wishing well. Choices were: turn off lights when they leave a room, don’t leave the water on while brushing their teeth, and the importance of not littering. Another station housed the “Bug Inn”, where children and adults learned about the importance of bugs. Other activities included visiting the Native Garden to learn about the importance of planting native, as well as planting zinnia seeds in earth friendly cups that the families could take home. We had a record 1,119 visitors for the event. It was a great day! Summer educational events begin with “Bird Olympics” on Saturday, June 8th from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

APRIL 2024 UPDATE: The Family Garden at the Zoo Team kicked off the 2024 season with an orientation meeting on Saturday, March 16 in the Rain Forest Café. The orientation was well-attended and all seemed excited to get started in the Garden! A shade garden is planned, complete with a trellis and colorful picket fencing that will protect plants in an area that is a shortcut for children. A carved playmate for Wally the Bear is also in the works! The first educational event planned for the season was an Earth Day Celebration called “Party for the Planet” on Saturday, April 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Various stations would be set up to teach children the importance of recycling, and the station in the Gazebo would teach children how to plant a zinnia seed in an earth friendly container that they could take home!

Photo Gallery