By Sharon Rude

I had the opportunity to visit Bickelhaupt Arboretum on Thursday, April 30. It is located in a residential neighborhood, one mile northwest of Eastern Iowa Community College in Clinton, Iowa. It is approximately a 90-minute drive from Iowa City. 

The Arboretum was founded in 1970 by Robert and Frances Bickelhaupt, after they witnessed the devastation of Dutch Elm Disease. The Arboretum covers 15 acres of trees, shrubs, and perennials. 

The perennials include Stout Medal daylilies, peonies in the Roy Klehm Peony Garden, a hillside of daffodils, and numerous named hosta gardens located under a variety of trees.  Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) and Trillium sessile (toadshade) can be found on a woodland hillside. 

More than 600 cultivars of conifers are located in the Heartland Collection of Garden Conifers, which is an American Conifer Society Reference Garden. The conifers range in size from miniature to very large spruces, some with soft needles over four inches long, and some that are very ornamental in their shape and appearance.

The Stout Medal daylilies garden is home to a hillside of named Hemerocallis cultivars. Each sign includes the year the particular cultivar won a medal. The Roy Klehm Peony Garden includes a variety of Paeonia cultivars, including a woody Mountain Peony.

The Bickelhaupt home was recently converted into a new education and event center. The center provides educational spaces, including a classroom and a library, and a Midwest ecosystem exhibit with a fox, opossum, rabbit, skunk, heron, otter, turtle, frog, beaver, woodchuck, raccoon, porcupine, turkey, deer, coyote, bobcat, and bear.

Environmental conservation also played a role in the center’s construction considerations, including permeable pavers for the parking lot sidewalks. The pavers allow rainwater to penetrate the surface to the gravel underneath, which traps sediment. The rainwater can then flow down to a crushed stone layer to filter and slow the water before it reaches the soil.

A rain garden is being established near the parking lot.

The Arboretum recently became home to a giant wood sculpture. Thomas Dambo, an internationally known artist, creates large troll sculptures from reclaimed wood. Marvin, a giant sleeping troll created with recycled wood, appears to be taking a nap under a tree and can be seen from the parking lot on the other side of the stream that winds through the Arboretum.

A second troll is located near the Sawmill Museum in Clinton along the Mississippi River, and was strategically built to appear to be holding a potted tree. Dambo’s goal is to create troll structures in every state.

A Dambo troll named Helmut, carrying a potted tree, is located near the Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Iowa.

_{Top left: Initial view of the Bickelhaupt Arboretum in Clinton, Iowa, on Thursday, April 30, 2026. Top right: Yellow alyssum and bridge at Bickelhaupt Arboretum. Bottom left: Marvin, one of three Dambo troll sculptures located around Clinton, Iowa, appears to be taking a snooze under a tree at Bickelhaupt Arboretum. The sculpture was constructed with reclaimed and recycled wood. Bottom right: A Dambo troll named Helmut, carrying a potted tree, is located near the Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Iowa. (Photos by Sharon Rude)}