Green Bay Botanical Garden: Hours, Tickets, Garden of Lights

Turn off Packerland Drive onto Larsen Road, past the technical college campus, and the parking lot fills with people carrying cameras, strollers and picnic bags. The Green Bay Botanical Garden covers 47 acres on the city's west side and holds more than 120,000 plants, from roses and conifers to an orchard planted before the garden existed. In 2026 it marks 30 years since it opened.

This page walks through the gardens worth finding, the current hours and prices, the Garden of Lights in December, the house rules, and where to eat nearby. The garden makes a quiet half-day among the other things to do around Green Bay, from Lambeau Field to the bay shore.

What is there to see at the Green Bay Botanical Garden?

The Arendt Conifer Garden is a reference garden for the American Conifer Society, which means the labels are worth reading if you are planning your own yard. The Larsen orchard keeps apple trees from the World War II era, a piece of the farmland that was here before the garden. There is also an English cottage garden, a herb garden with a fairy garden tucked in, a shade garden of hostas, a Vietnam Veterans Garden and a magnolia grove.

Timing changes what you see: the daylily display peaks in July and August, the roses come before it, and the conifers carry the place through the winter months. On a short visit, do the children's garden and the roses, then cut back past the orchard.

How the garden came to be

The idea started with a gardeners' club in 1968, long before there was any land to plant. In 1992 the technical college agreed to lease 30 acres for 99 years, on the condition that the group raise $1.4 million. The garden opened in September 1996, added 17 more acres in 2000, and opened the Bell Children's Garden in May 2023.

That history explains the layout: the garden grew outward in stages, which is why it reads as a series of rooms rather than a single designed park. The orchard trees are older than all of it.

Which season is best for a visit?

Spring is bulb season, and Travel Wisconsin's listing counts more than 300,000 spring blooms across the beds. Summer has the longest hours, the roses and daylilies, and the evening concerts. Fall is quieter and cooler, and a good time for the conifer and orchard walks before the season's hours shorten.

Winter is for the Garden of Lights, and for anyone who wants the paths nearly to themselves on a weekday. Whichever season you pick, check the hours first, because they change through the year.

How much does the Green Bay Botanical Garden cost?

Daily admission in 2026 is $17 for adults, $15 for seniors 62 and over and for military, and $7 for ages 3 to 17, with children 2 and under free. Members get in free, and so do Northeast Wisconsin Technical College students and faculty, whose campus leases the land to the garden. Buying online takes $1 off each ticket, and families with an EBT card can use the Museums for All discount.

Family membership is $85, and it includes reciprocal admission at more than 400 gardens elsewhere, which pays off fast if you travel. Prices change from season to season, so check the garden's site before you go.

When is the Green Bay Botanical Garden open?

The garden is open all year, but the days and hours shift with the season. From May through August it is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., in September until 6:30 p.m., and in April and October until 5 p.m. From November 16 into late December it opens Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from early January through March it opens Monday to Saturday from 9 to 5.

Last entry is 30 minutes before closing, and the garden closes for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The Bell Children's Garden closes for part of the winter, into mid-January.

What is the Garden of Lights?

Garden of Lights is the garden's December light show, a walk on mulched paths through lit displays after dark. In 2025 it ran about 40 displays along a one-mile path, and the garden counts more than 200,000 visitors a year across all its seasons.

It runs from late November through December; see the garden's ticket site for 2026 prices.

An accessible golf cart covers about 0.4 mile of the route for visitors who can transfer into it, and it has no ramp. Dress for a Green Bay night in December, because you will be outside the whole time.

Concerts and seasonal events

Summer brings concerts to the Billie Kress Amphitheater, which holds about 1,500 people on the lawn among the beds. The garden also runs a summer evening event called Botanica, a Field to Fork dinner and a fall festival, and the calendar on its site lists the year's dates. The amphitheater nights sit alongside the free outdoor series downtown on the city's summer concert calendar, where the garden's ticket prices are listed too.

Pets stay home on a normal day, but the garden has held Dog Day events in spring, most recently April 2026, when it went ahead in the rain. Couples looking at the rose garden for a ceremony will find the garden among the Green Bay wedding venues with an indoor hall as the rain plan.

Good to know before you go

Parking is free in the garden's lot, first come, first served. Picnics are welcome, carry-in alcohol is not, and bikes and skateboards stay outside the gate. Pets and emotional support animals must stay home, while service animals are welcome. From April 1 to November 1 the garden lends wheelchairs and electric scooters free, first come, first served.

The whole site is smoke-free and vape-free. The garden runs without city or county money and depends on special events, members and donors, according to a 2024 Civic Media report, which is part of why prices sit where they do.

Where to eat near the Green Bay Botanical Garden

A close neighbour of the garden is Oneida Golf Club, about half a mile northwest, a private club with golf, tennis and swimming that also hosts weddings and parties. For a meal open to everyone, head a few miles in any direction.

River's Bend, about 2.8 miles northeast on Riverview Drive, is a family-run supper club open since 1974, with river views, a patio, prime rib and a brunch buffet. Taverne in the Sky, about 2.7 miles southeast on South Ridge Road, is the fifth-floor dining room that looks out over Lambeau Field.

Long Drive and River's Bend both call themselves supper clubs, and the wider list of supper clubs around Green Bay adds more for a Friday night.