The Boone County Arboretum's fall season on paper is three days long. Its October 2026 calendar has a free Fall Color Walk on Tuesday, October 20, and two events on Thursday, October 22: a daylong tree symposium and an evening giveback at Braxton Union. After the last volunteer garden morning on October 27, nothing else is listed until a holiday workshop on December 2.
So if you live in Union, the Arboretum's guided fall programs fit into a single work week. After that, you'll see the season's color at 9190 Camp Ernst Road on your own.
The Week on One Page
All of October's public events at the Arboretum are posted on its events calendar, along with a weekly volunteer session. Laid out by day, it looks like this:
Date | Program | Time | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tue, Oct 13 | Helping Hands: Garden with Us | 9:00–11:30 a.m. | Arboretum | Registration required |
Tue, Oct 20 | Helping Hands: Garden with Us | 9:00–11:30 a.m. | Arboretum | Registration required |
Tue, Oct 20 | Fall Color Walk | 1:00–2:30 p.m. | Arboretum flagpole | Free, registration required |
Thu, Oct 22 | Woody Plants & Landscape Symposium | 7:45 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Boone County Enrichment Center, Burlington | $109, or $49 for students |
Thu, Oct 22 | Pints and Plants | 5:00–9:00 p.m. | Braxton Union, 8901 US-42 | No charge, registration required |
Tue, Oct 27 | Helping Hands: Garden with Us | 9:00–11:30 a.m. | Arboretum | Registration required |
The Tuesday volunteer mornings repeat every week. The one-time programs all fall between the afternoon of October 20 and the evening of October 22. One subject ties them together: how trees in this county are doing, and who pays to look after them.
Tuesday Is About What Goes Wrong With Trees
The name "Fall Color Walk" suggests a leaf-peeping stroll, but the event page describes something more practical. It's billed as a leisurely walk through the Arboretum's collections that identifies and discusses common local tree and shrub problems. It's free, registration is required, and the group meets at the Arboretum flagpole at 1 p.m. The page doesn't name a guide.
That focus is useful for anyone in Union with a few maturing trees in the yard. Seeing a problem pointed out on a labeled specimen at the Arboretum teaches more than a photo search on your phone does. The walk ends at 2:30 p.m.
That Tuesday also has a Helping Hands session from 9 to 11:30 a.m., when volunteers garden with Arboretum staff. No experience is needed, and registration is required. If you're free all day on October 20, you can spend the morning working in the beds and come back after lunch to hear what staff watch for in those same plantings.
Thursday Moves Between Burlington and US-42
On October 22, the Arboretum's two events take place in two different towns, and neither one is on the Arboretum grounds.
The daytime event is the Woody Plants & Landscape Symposium. It's held at the Boone County Enrichment Center, 1824 Patrick Drive in Burlington, rather than on the Arboretum grounds. Doors open at 7:45 a.m., and the program runs from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. General admission is $109, and students with a valid ID pay $49. Breakfast, lunch, coffee, snacks and free parking are included, and continuing education credits are expected for industry professionals.
The speakers are Dr. Bill Fountain, Joe Boggs, Mark Wessel, Dr. Paul Cappiello and Steve Foltz. The day ends with a panel of all five plus two moderators. The Friends of Boone County Arboretum started the symposium to highlight the challenges and successes of tree conservation and to expand the Arboretum's plant acquisition and research projects.
That same nonprofit benefits from the evening event. Pints and Plants runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at Braxton Union. From 5 to 8 p.m., $1 from every pint sold goes to the Friends of the Boone County Arboretum to help preserve and improve the grounds. There's no charge to attend, though the Arboretum's calendar lists registration as required.
The two events cover the same cause at different prices. The symposium is a $109 professional day in Burlington, and Pints and Plants is a free evening on US-42. If you won't spend a weekday in a lecture hall, you can still put money toward the Arboretum's upkeep by being at the brewery before 8 p.m.
Where Pints and Plants Happens
Braxton Union is fairly new in Union. Braxton Brewing Co. announced a grand-opening celebration for its Union Commons development for November 27, 2024, so October 22 falls about a month before the taproom's second anniversary.
LINK nky described the site as a new two-story brick building around The Lawn, a 20,000-square-foot shared green, next to Dewey's Pizza and Graeter's Ice Cream. Braxton's Union page calls the taproom family-friendly, with 24 rotating beers plus wine and cocktails. Food comes from its Dewey's and Graeter's neighbors. The Lawn is a community greenspace, and a space called The Overlook is available for private events.
So a household can do Pints and Plants as a dinner outing. The adults buy the pints that count toward the donation, and pizza and ice cream are a few steps away. The event runs until 9 p.m., but only pints sold before 8 count toward the donation.
After October 27, the Grounds Are Open but the Calendar Is Empty
Once the last Tuesday volunteer morning wraps up on October 27, the Arboretum's calendar has nothing until December. The grounds stay open. The visitor page lists hours of dawn to dusk every day of the year, with free admission and free parking. The collection includes more than 3,600 trees and woody shrubs in more than 25 collection areas, linked by more than 2 miles of paved walking and biking trails.
So for the rest of fall, you won't have a guide at the flagpole. The Arboretum's own Visitor's Guide is the most useful map. It points out two collections for fall color in particular:
- Aspen, noted for golden fall foliage
- Viburnum, Oak & Ginkgo, a combined collection noted for glowing fall colors
The guide also names the Dogwood, Beech & Boxwood, Birch and Ornamental Maple collections and the Hickory Trail. Its list of features to explore includes the Children's Garden, Pollinator Garden, Rain Garden and the Native Kentucky Grassland & Bird Blind. If you walk the Fall Color Walk on October 20, you'll know what to look for when you come back alone in November.
There's at least one November event on the grounds, though the Arboretum isn't running it. Ginga School of Soccer lists a Fall Festival for Saturday, November 7, from noon to 5 p.m. at Shelter 2, 9190 Camp Ernst Road. Expect more cars than usual near that shelter that afternoon.
The Arboretum's own programs start again with Soup and Swag on Wednesday, December 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. Guests have homemade soup, then use seasonal greenery to make a holiday swag to take home. Registration is required. The annual Members Holiday Party follows on Thursday, December 10, from 5 to 8 p.m.
So the Arboretum's fall ends with greenery cut for indoor decorating, and you'll have five weeks between October 27 and December 2 to walk the collections at your own pace, dawn to dusk.
If the October 20 walk gets you looking at your own trees, and you start to wonder how a mature, well-kept yard affects your Union home's value, Janell Stuckwisch and her team can walk the property with you and give you a clear, data-backed number. Get Your Home's Value whenever you're ready.