Customer Reviews
What You'll Get
Until mankind first stepped outside in 1934, nature was thought to be a fanciful myth, like yogurt or the clutch hitter. Spend a few hours frolicking through the fresh air of truth with today's Groupon to the Idaho Botanical Garden. Choose from the following three membership options:
For $25, you get a family membership, which includes admission for two adults as well as all children under age 18 in the same household (up to a $50 value).
For $30, you get a family-plus membership, which includes the same admission benefits as the Family membership, plus admission for two guests of any age (up to a $60 value).
For $37, you get a contributing membership, which includes the same admission benefits as the family-plus membership, plus two garden-event passes good toward a choice of events (up to a $75 value).
A nonprofit horticultural museum powered by the charitable largess of botany buffs throughout the region, the Idaho Botanical Garden provides verdant viewings through a year-round oasis of efflorescent exhibits. All membership levels provide avid household green thumbs with special access to the rolling hills and winding paths of the garden's extensive 15-acre facility. Meander throughout a host of conservatory-worthy displays, including the blossoming trees and lazy overhead trellises of the Muriel and Diana Kirk english garden, the color-packed bursts of the summer peony collection, and the herb garden's savory species of thyme, rosemary, and worcester sauce bushes.
History-minded wayfarers can also take an expedition through the plant-packed pages of Meriwether Lewis's journal in the Lewis & Clark native plant garden–an outdoor enclosure dotted with more than 100 of the pioneering plants encountered by the intrepid explorers during their search for map-able rivers and Oregon's lost city of Pizza.
Leaf lovers in search of budding excursions may opt for the Contributing membership, which comes paired with two tickets to one of the Idaho Botanical Garden's annual events, including the scarecrow-staffed Harvest Festival, the Great Garden Escape's outdoor concerts, or Bug Day's adrenaline-filled Running of the Crickets. Other membership perks for all levels include subscription to the quarterly newsletter, borrowing privileges to the garden library, a 10% discount on garden store items, and reciprocal admission at 237 participating national gardens.
Reviews
Eight Insider Pagers give the Idaho Botanical Garden a five-star average rating, and four TripAdvisors give it an average rating of four owl eyes:
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires Jun 17, 2011. Amount paid never expires. Limit 1 per person, may buy 1 additional as a gift. New members only. Valid only for option purchased. Must activate membership by 6/16/11, membership expires 1 year from activation date. No cash value. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About Idaho Botanical Garden
The mission of the Idaho Botanical Garden has remained the same since its founding more than 25 years ago: to foster community appreciation and understanding of horticulture and natural conservation. Nestled in the Boise foothills, the facility's 33 acres house more than 14 themed gardens. Some feature carnivorous plants, native flora, or colorful and aromatic herbs, whereas others focus on rose varieties, succulents, peonies, and water-conserving plants. Garden staff use adjacent foothills for nature hikes and environmental education.
A day at the gardens may also include a snack at the Tea House or a trip to admire plantings on the roof of the Gathering Place gazebo. Pathways lined with Table Rock sandstone wander through the four quadrants of the green Celtic labyrinth, each representing one of the four seasons. In a separate Children's Adventure Garden, smaller visitors frolic in a colorful tree house and watch the ripple of fins at a koi pond. For self-guided family tours, the staff provide backpacks containing suggestions for things to see and do, as well as scavenger-hunt items, a magnifying lens, and binoculars so children can check whether that's really a Bubo virginianus slinking through the trees.