We really enjoyed the scarecrow walk at the Arboretum and is why we stopped out for the first time since recently moving to the area. They also had a find the spider activity for fall, along with their usual find the gnome activity - great activities for kids. Beautiful place, kept up well, friendly and helpful volunteer staff, and would be great for picnics. We will definitely be back - especially after learning about their reciprocal arboretum program!

Our family was able to meet halfway and was looking for an outdoor park to have a picnic. Gorgeous and clean facilities. Such pretty flowers.

The secret treasure of cedar falls. Low cost to get in, beautiful flowers, relaxing trail, and cute little kids exploration area. You can even feed the coy fish! Once a year they have an outdoor sale with plants, pumpkins, and honey from their on-site bee apiaries. They also partner with the monarch plot program.

The arboretum was awesome. Its good walk especially on a sunny day. Proposed to my soon to be wife here

Why I loved it because I used to go there for my work site for school. And I got to help the owner who works there he was super nice and the lady was nice to. I got to cut the dead stems off of the flowers.i really want to go back.

Excellent place for the family to spend some time! Fun scavenger hunts, and so spacious and beautiful. Will be going back often.

A nice place for a walk and a great place to take the little ones. There is a nice interactive learning/play area. 40 acers of with a large pollinators field as well as exhibits.

Love this place. Beautiful garden space. We hosted our wedding in the rose garden, and it was beautiful.

Lots of different kinds of plants and trees. Fruit tree gardens will be great to watch in years to come.

It is a very quiet place to walk through and kids to play. The diversity of plants are great . Gnomes are right at home there.

Beautiful place to walk around and explore. Many learning opportunities as well

If youre looking for a beautiful, peaceful place, this is it.

Beautiful place to go and take a personal break from everything. Amazing gardens, even has a labyrinth!

Stunning Check out ️

Beautiful arboretum! Nice pathways. So happy to find a labyrinth there, I used to have my own! Fun childrens area.

Gorgeous place thats relaxing take a nice walk and some beautiful pictures.

Very nice gardens. Very friendly staff.

Such a lovely place to visit!

I had not been to the arboretum for several years, and made a recent visit. Vast improvements have been made in that period of time. The gardens have been expanded, and of course plants, bushes and trees have matured.The arboretum has a small operating budget, and three paid employees, most of whom not work full time. The vast physical work of weeding, cleaning and help to develop planting areas, is done by volunteers. Understandably, the gardens may not always be in pristine order when helpers cannot devote full time work.The area is peaceful and includes a koi pond, and a childrens garden. The arboretum, in conjunction with a 4-H program, hosts student groups and other club activities. The location would be an excellent site small, intimate wedding.The one shortcoming that I saw at the arboretum was that few trees and plants are identified. There is a lovely variety of flowers and unique shrubs, but they are not identified, so it is frustrating to have no way to know what is there.

Great place for a walk and taking pictures

I am so grateful that I found this place! Tranquil, peaceful and extremely wonderful. I only wish I had time to stay for Shakespeare in the Garden. So going here again and again and again. Bless those who preserve what God created.

Fantastic outdoor gardens walkways kid play and learn area. Wedding ceremonies available as well as any special occasion celebration.

It was really nice!

Beautiful area, loved the exhibits. Saw lots of butterflies. Want to see it grow and get even better.

We love this place!

They have built a wonderful place and with the events they have there, I can share it with my family, year round!

Beautiful and fun for the kids

It was probably not the best time of the year to visit (05/18/19), but charging someone to enter this place is not fair. You can see nice pictures of beautiful flowers and gardens, and read very good descriptions, but nothing of the real thing.It was like going to the zoo to see empty cages and book illustrations. Just frustrating

This is a cute and pretty little place, which is unfortunately rather overly ambitious in its ticket pricing. 5 dollar for an adult, 2 dollars for kids. For a medium sized playground and a handful of plants, that’s just not quite reasonable. Still, it is a nice place to visit

Always perfect.

Nice place. A little underwhelming. I think its more of a nice place for locals to sit and visit and or enjoy nature.

Well thought out arrangements! A superb place for children! Seriously amazing. My kids beg to visit! Relaxing and always putting on awesome events. Waterloo has an amazing treasure here.

Beautiful place great scenery and a wonderful place to take pictures all around fantastic would go again

A wonderful tribute to anyone who enjoys natural habitats.

It was beautiful. The grounds and plants were amazing. A staff member was very knowledgeable. Great place for pictures and a place to rewind.

Such a beautiful, peaceful place! The best spot on Waterloo!

A great place to enjoy nature and learn about plants. They have a lovely children’s area with lots of activities. There are many places to sit and enjoy the scenery as well as trails that take you through various types of gardens.

Great little place to wander around. Kids love finding the gnomes

Was there for a wedding so I didnt get too much of a chance to explore much, but what I did see was a lot of native plants and beautiful flowers. Its actually a lot neater than I imagined it would be. Comments I heard from others were the same.

Loved it!

Lovely space. Great local resource.

Ever wanted to visit a Hobbit hole? View a peacock made of plants? Walk by peaceful koi ponds and beautiful butterfly meadows? I loved visiting the arboretum, and it is wonderful for adults and children alike. Even a gloomy, rainy day at the end of the growing season couldnt dampen the natural charm of these beautiful gardens. In the fall, they have a dazzling variety of pumpkins available for purchase. I am not a child, but the childrens garden entertained me for a good 20 minutes. I know where Im taking my family the next time they visit Waterloo!

Great place, have a whole fun section for kids

This place is absolutely beautiful and quiet. The childrens garden is such a fun place to visit and has come a long way in the past couple years. The additions of the general store, music station, and hobbit house were a great investment. I couldnt get my kids to leave without kicking and screaming. Annoying at the time, but you know youve got a great hangout spot if the kids dont want to leave!!!

Was nice, you could tell damp cold weather were hampering things. Great pollinators plot.

Very beautiful and always inviting. Great place to take the kiddos and see some nature.

Beautiful doesnt begin to describe the Arboretum. Memberships to the Arboretum are very affordable and allow access to the grounds and the regular events that they host there. Nice place to escape for a bit and relax in nature.

Some of the garden areas are really nice, others are not well maintained. I expected more plants to be identified. Almost skipped the childrens area, because we didnt have any children with us, glad we went in, it was the best section of the whole place.

Pretty place for a photo shoot!

This is a nice place, relative to the location its in (a smaller area than say a big city like Chicago) and the price of admission ($3 for adults). Our out-of-town family visited here with some local friends and spent about 2 hours walking through the gardens. While much of the grounds are somewhat sparse, there are some nice attractions like a childrens area, a rose garden, and a hosta garden. Overall, it was a very pleasant visit on a beautiful sunny day, but we probably wont come back anytime soon. It doesnt compare to a botanic center like the one near Chicago, of course, but it was inexpensive and worthy of a visit.

Beautiful! Big, open spaces; creative plantings; Learning Center for the kids! Who new horticulture could be so fun?

Friendly staff, beautiful gardens, kids activities and Childrens Garden

Very nice

Well kept. Lots of variety. Peaceful place.

Beautiful Garden! But If youre looking to have your wedding here....watch out.The lady running things was very inconsiderate and liked to make up her own rules.When we booked, it was $300, but she convinced the board members to charge an incredible increase of $800!! For a public garden and all the other rules she has put in place this is quite the fee. Luckily, we booked before that, but after the wedding she made a big stink about something we did, saying it violated the contract and she was going to keep our security deposit of $300. However, the rule we broke wasnt on the contract so we had to threatened to sue in order to finally get our money back. This same lady is also pushing for entree fees to the garden...so it will no longer be public and free, even though this garden was made up of donations and volunteers!! So how do those volunteers and donors feel about charging people to see what they paid for and GAVE to the public?

Beautiful day at the Arboretum for the Fall Fest. Lots of interesting booths, good food and lots of scarecrows.

Our class have so much fun!!

Great experience! My children loved it, we cant wait to go back!

Awesome experience for nature lovers.

Beautiful place to relax. Nice childrens garden for kids to explore and play.

Small but very beautiful!

My son and I really enjoy attending events and walking through the lovely gardens. Fun spot to have a nice quiet walk and see the wonderful blooms.

Beautiful!

Was a neat place to visit. Will be back to walk more trails

Loved it. Cant wait to go back!

Great place to host a wedding.

Wow! This place has changed so much since the kids were small! Fabulous walk, peaceful.

Fun for kids! Free on first Tuesday of the month. Beautiful gardens.

Cute n beautiful place about 30 acrea to walk thru

The Cedar Valley Arboretum is a good place to go to get away from the hustle and have fun in a beautiful place.

So beautiful. The plants are well marked and they have a fun interactive childrens garden.

Great place to spend a few hours! The children’s garden is phenomenal!!!

Lots of fun. Beautiful grounds.

Great place as an arboretum. Nice walk through Garden.

Nice spot to visit

My son and I always make a few trips each summer to the arboretum. For those with small children be sure to visit their Hobbit House and bring some quarters so you can feed the fish .

Beautiful. First time visit

Beautiful place!!

Went for the Fall Harvest Festival. Great activity!

Bucolic. Good place to de stress.

Very nice and friendly

Very nice area for kids to play!

Fun time at the fall festival!

Beautiful with a lot of flowers, trees, and learning opportunities.

Beautiful place!

Its the bees knees!

Amazing place to explore and spend the day with family and friends !!!

Very pretty place

Simply beautiful

Awesome food and great prices

Beautiful place!!

Great place

Got married here, Wonderfull

Beautiful.

Beautiful!

Relaxing

Nice

Neat place

Fun day for families

Beautiful place