In May, spring flowers bloom in shades of bright blue, yellow and white for a few weeks until the weather warms into early summer. Virginia bluebells, trilliums and violets are a few of the briefly blooming flowers to be found in Minneapolis’ Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.

The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, opened in April 1907, is the oldest public wildflower garden in the U.S. Today, it is run by the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and spans 18 acres that about 640 plant species call home.

Susan Wilkins, the garden’s curator, said the garden is unique because, unlike most botanical gardens, the plants are curated to look like natural growth.

“They’re introduced and planted in a way to make it feel as though they were and they belong here and they belong together,” Wilkins said. “It’s so beautiful in that way, it’s very sophisticated, but very kind of subtle, too.”

The garden, which opened for its 118th season starting from April 15 to October, is named after Eloise Butler, a renowned Minneapolis botany teacher who started the garden to give people a place to learn about Minnesota’s native plants. Butler died at 81 years old while working in the garden in 1933.

The garden is guided by the legacy of Butler, Wilkins said. While nearly every plant species introduced to the garden is native to Minnesota, a few species are native to Butler’s home state of Maine and the northeastern U.S. — like the purple trillium.

Wilkins added that much of the garden’s tree cover today is thanks to Butler’s planting.

As a botanical garden, one of its core purposes is education. David Remucal, a horticulture professor at the University of Minnesota, said the garden is small but mighty in its variety of plants and educational impact, and he often takes his classes to visit the garden.

Linette Maeder, a naturalist at the garden who gives tours, said she loves how the space connects people with the natural world around them.

“A lot of times people are surprised that we have so much just right here in the city,” Maeder said. “It’s really awesome to have them be aware of the space that is for them to enjoy.”

The garden offers free flower and birding tours and up to twelve public education programs for kids and adults each week, as well as private group tours.

For visitors, the garden is a hidden gem where they can experience what Minnesota’s natural landscape has to offer and also celebrate milestones.

Devinna Hansen and Trish Fleischhacker, a pair of friends who toured the garden on Wednesday, included the garden tour as a part of Hansen’s 54th birthday celebration.

Hansen and Fleischhacker were first-time visitors to the garden but said this would certainly not be their last. The pair has lived in Northeast Minneapolis for years but had never made the trip to the garden, where they enjoyed getting to admire and learn about Minnesota’s native flowers.

“The other thing we talked about was what other things are available like this that we’re not taking advantage of?” Fleischhacker said.

On their tour, Hansen and Fleischhacker met Jill Olsen and Kathy Gustafson, another pair of friends who were celebrating Olsen’s 75th birthday. The two are long-time garden visitors who return to see how the garden changes throughout the year.

“It’s like rediscovering it when I come,” Olsen said. “It’s ever-changing.”

The garden serves another critical purpose in conserving Minnesota’s native plants for years to come.

Remucal, who is also the endangered plants curator for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s plant conservation program, said conservation gardens like the Eloise Butler play an important role in protecting native plants. The movement of warming and changing climates across the U.S. could mean Minneapolis in 50 years feels like the warmer and drier Omaha of today, he said.

“It turns out that movement is faster than plants can move,” Remucal said. “No plant that is rare in the southwestern part of Minnesota will be able to stay ahead of that temperature change if it needs a nice comfortable bubble for the temperature or precipitation.”

One of those at-risk plants could be the showy lady slipper, Minnesota’s state flower and one of the garden’s growing species, Remucal said.

Wilkins said the garden’s tireless work to protect native plants and showcase them to the public is crucial to the future of plant conservation and Minnesota’s natural landscape.

“This is a space of hope and I think you go and feel that, too,” Wilkins said. “It just builds on that grounded hope, not fanciful hopes.”