The 300-acre Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens was founded to keep the city at the forefront of environmental and ecological issues. A leader of environmentally sound community development, the Arboretum is an educational, recreational and cultural resource for the Kansas City region. It offers homeowners, landscapers and arborists an opportunity to view and evaluate a wide variety of hybrid trees and shrubs, native to this area.
About 85 percent of the property in southern Overland Park is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of eight natural ecosystems. The remaining portion includes traditional botanical gardens, trails, the Visitors Center and maintenance facilities.