Red Butte Garden and Arboretum
Encyclopedia
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
and arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
operated by the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, in the foothills of the Wasatch Range
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...
in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is open year-round to the public. Red Butte Garden contains 18 acre (0.07284348 km²) of botanical gardens and several miles of hiking trails through native vegetation. Red Butte Creek
Red Butte Creek
Red Butte Creek is a small stream whose headwaters are found in the northeast part of Salt Lake County. It flows west through the Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, by the University of Utah, Fort Douglas and flows southwesterly through Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park before forming a confluence with...
runs within the northern part of the park.
History
The garden began in 1930, when Dr. Walter P. Cottam, co-founder of The Nature Conservancy and chairman of the BotanyBotany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
Department at the University of Utah, began using campus land for plant research. In 1961, the Utah legislature designated the University's campus landscape as the State Arboretum. In 1983, the University dedicated 100 acre (0.404686 km²) at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon for a regional botanical garden.