Tulips are the center of activities this weekend at Botanica, Bartlett Arboretum

With humble roots, tulip celebrations at two area garden attractions have grown into full-fledged festivals featuring music, performances and more.

Art at the Arb, the Bartlett Arboretum’s two-day celebration of its 50,000 tulips and more than 100 artisans and musicians, happens this weekend, April 13 and 14, in Belle Plaine. The weekend concerts also kick off the Arb’s expanded concert series that will run on 18 select Sundays through October.

Botanica’s Tulip Festival, featuring music and performances, is held over two weekends: April 13 and 14 and April 20 and 21.

“It’s gorgeous out here now,” said Pat McKernan, the head landscaper at Botanica. He oversaw the ordering and planting of 72,000 tulip bulbs, including more than 110 varieties, that are blooming now at Wichita’s 17-acre garden attraction. More than 30 varieties are new to the gardens, in keeping with McKernan’s philosophy of introducing visitors to tulips they don’t commonly see in residential gardens.

At both gardens, which have become major botanical attractions over the years, the roots of their tulip seasons go deep into their historical makeup.

Bartlett Arboretum’s celebration started as a memorial to its founder’s 7-year-old daughter, Maxine, who died in the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic. Free leftovers from a local garden club’s tulip bulb sale comprised Botanica’s first tulip garden.

“We will always have tulips to honor the family, honor the land and honor the legacy,” said Robin Macy, who purchased the Arb in the 1990s and calls herself the Arb’s steward and caretaker. The 15-acre nature museum was established in 1910 by physician William Bartlett.

It was Glenn Bartlett, the founder’s son, who first planted the idea of a memorial to honor his younger sister. He’d been fighting in World War I in Europe in 1918 when he got a letter from his parents telling him of Maxine’s death; he wrote back that the family needed to do a tribute to her at the arboretum.

McKernan has been planting tulips every fall since joining Botanica’s staff in 1987, the same year it was started as a collaboration between the Wichita Area Garden Council and the city of Wichita. The Tulip Festival celebrations got underway in the last decade or so, McKernan said, and the number of bulbs planted has increased every year.

“It just grows larger and larger,” McKernan said.

This fall, McKernan will place his final order for tulips at Botanica and oversee their planting, since he retires at the end of the year.

While tulips along with daffodils are plentiful throughout both the Arb and Botanica, both attractions have spaces that showcase particular colors or varieties.

This year, Botanica’s Margie Button Memorial Garden, which surrounds a three-level, cascading fountain, features 17,000 bulbs in pinks and purples, while the entry garden features reds and yellows. Each year, McKernan alternates the colors between the two gardens.

In the Arb’s sunny Terrace of Paris Garden, Macy and her volunteers, whom she calls soil sisters and brothers, have planted a French Blend Rose tulip mix.

While the weekend celebrations at the Arb and Botanica center around tulips, there are several other activities planned throughout both gardens.

Various musical performances — ranging from bluegrass to big band and from Gaelic to zydeco — take center stage at the Arb. Saturday’s lineup includes The Ghost of Mead’s Corner, Aerotones Big Band, and Jenny Lou and the Buckaroos. Sunday’s lineup includes The Mudbugs, Kentucky White and All That Jazz, and Little Big Twang. A complete schedule is available at bartlettarboretum.com.

Macy advises bringing lawn chairs or a blanket to enjoy the concerts. Food trucks will be on-site; picnics are welcome.

Admission to Art at the Arb is $10, payable at the gate, with kids 12 and younger free. Gates will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Hours for the Tulip Festival at Botanica are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. with hourly timed admissions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets, which must be purchased in advance and online, are $12 with discounts available for youth, Botanica members and military members; children 2 and younger are free. Guided 60-to-90-minute walking or golf cart tours are also available and cost $25 per person, with discounts for members.

Live music is featured every day of the festival on the terrace patio, while dance performances happen on Botanica’s Main Stage. The Flint Hill Fairies will be set up at the main meadow and animals from the Four Points Ranch Petting Zoo will also be at the festival, as well. The location of the petting zoo will vary, depending on weather conditions, according to Nikki Smith, Botanica’s director of community engagement and education.

A complete schedule, along with the ticket link, can be found at botanica.org/tulip-festival.

Art at the Arb

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14

Where: 301 N. Line St., Belle Plaine

Admission: $10, children 12 and younger are free

More information: 620-488-3451 or bartlettarboretum.com

Botanica’s Tulip Festival

When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, April 13 and 14 and April 20 and 21

Where: 701 Amidon, Wichita; visitors can enter through either south or north gates

Admission: $12 adults, $10 Botanica members, youth and military, free for children ages 2 and younger. Tickets must be purchased online and in advance with hourly timed entries from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More information: 316-264-0448 or botanica.org/tulip-fest