University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden

The University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a public grounds featuring over 2500 plant species organized into zones representing different regions of the world. The collections are divided into sections that showcase flora from Asia, Europe, and North America.

A professor named Charles Houston Shattuck established this collection in 1910 with roughly 14 acres, making it one of the first university botanical plantings in the western region of North America. The original project grew over time into the much larger grounds that exist today.

The garden functions as a teaching space where students from the university study plants and landscape design in a living classroom. Visitors can observe how different plant communities are arranged to support learning and experimentation.

Visitors can explore the grounds on roughly 1.5 miles of gravel and bark-covered pathways that are open from sunrise to sunset. Admission is free year-round, making it possible to visit at your own pace.

The grounds house a specialized collection of around 829 tree and shrub species, including uncommon specimens such as Dawn Redwood, Ginkgo, and Camperdown Elms. This selection was deliberately gathered to introduce visitors to plant types they might not encounter elsewhere.