Gawk at the Gardens of Michigan

March 15th, 2016

Some states are more into gardening than others and have the lineup of superb public gardens to prove it.

Windmill Island is one of the Holland stops on our Michigan gardens itinerary.

Pennsylvania is actually very high on that list, led by the Philadelphia area, which has the nation’s largest cluster of public gardens at nearly two dozen (most of which we’ve shown you via group bus tours).

But Michigan is another of those states, so I thought it’s about time that Lowee’s Group Tours and I put together a trip up there. You’re invited to hop on the bus with my wife, Sue, and I for a 9-day, 8-night gardener’s vacation to see Holland, Michigan’s, annual Tulip Festival, plus nine other gardens, the quaint Mackinac Island and the amazing Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn.

The trip runs in the heart of (hopefully) ideal gardener’s weather, from May 7 to 15, and includes, eight nights’ lodging, transportation, 15 meals, admissions, prizes, and yours truly offering interesting info tidbits and gardening insights along the way – all for $1,749 per person double.

The main attraction is the Holland’s Tulip Festival, where we’ll be spending two days.

This town in western Michigan was founded by the Dutch and remains heavily Dutch-influenced to this day, with gazillions of tulips planted everywhere as well as Dutch restaurants, a Dutch parade, a re-created Dutch town (Nelis’ Dutch Village), a working bulb farm (Veldheer Tulip Gardens) and a real 230-year-old Dutch windmill that was imported from the Netherlands and reassembled in Holland, Mich. We’ll see all of that.

But we’ll also see some great gardens on the way out and back.

Two top ones on the agenda are the gorgeous 158-acre Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, which TripAdvisor readers rank as one of America’s best 10 public gardens, and the Michigan State University’s 4H Children’s Garden, which was the model for the slew of hands-on children’s gardens that have cropped up as must-have features in public gardens during the last 15 years.

The conservatory at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.

Other gardens we’ll be seeing:

* The 60-acre Toledo (Ohio) Botanical Garden with its artisan village, large perennial garden and pioneer cottage planted with native plants.

* The University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, which together feature 700 acres of gardens (bonsai, rock garden, herbal knot garden, Michigan native-plant garden, etc.) plus trees and natural landscapes.

* Michigan State University’s W.J. Beal Garden, a 5-acre garden with 2,000 different kinds of plants on MSU’s campus.

* Walters Gardens, which is one of America’s biggest production facilities for perennials (1,500 acres) and home to so many of the Proven Winners varieties that you’re probably growing in your home gardens.

* The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pennsylvania’s newest public garden that just opened in the fall of 2014 and will ultimately cover 400 acres, with the Fred Rogers Family Garden being next on the drawing board.

Another highlight for me is the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, which is a sort of combination of the Smithsonian and Williamsburg.

The Ford Museum is 12 indoor acres of Americana, featuring not only Henry Ford’s eclectic collection of typewriters, toasters and other American innovations but historic items such as the limo that John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated and the bus that Rosa Parks was riding in when she set off the Civil Rights movement.

The neighboring Greenfield Village is 90 acres of living history with homes throughout America’s history, including Thomas Edison’s actual workshop (moved from New Jersey), the Wright Brothers Cycle Shop (also moved there), and Luther Burbank’s cottage, plus an 1800s farm planted with heirloom crops. You can also take a ride in a real Model T there.

The gardens at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

On our day at the no-cars-allowed Mackinac Island, we’ll take a horse-drawn carriage tour of the island, have a buffet lunch at the Grand Hotel (beautiful gardens, too), and spend time with horticulturist Jack Barnwell, who designed and manages the colorful gardens at the island’s Hotel Iroquois.

We’ll round out the trip with a tour and tasting at the Chateau Chantal Winery overlooking scenic Grand Traverse Bay, and a stop on the way home at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in case that spouse you’re dragging along wants to see something other than tulips and sweetspires).

More than 30 people are signed up already, so there’s still room before the bus fills.

Call Lowee’s at 717-657-9658 to sign up or email CKelly@lowees.com. The full agenda and a signup form is posted on Lowees’ website.

The rest of my trips for 2016 are posted on the George’s Talks and Trips section of my website.

The next trip – before the multi-day Michigan vacation – is a day trip to see Alexandria’s annual Home and Garden tour. That one includes a visit to George Washington’s Mt. Vernon and is scheduled for Sat., April 23. It’s almost full, so call Lowees at 717-757-9658 to get on that one.

The rest of the 2016 lineup includes a day trip to see five great local gardens (Thursday, June 30); a 3-day trip to America’s biggest garden tour at Garden Walk Buffalo (July 29-31); a day trip to three private home gardens and a butterfly garden in the State College/Bellefonte area (Fri., Aug. 19); an 8-day vacation to see great gardens and attractions in and around Paris, France (Sept. 19-26); a visit to Chanticleer gardens and the home garden of author David Culp (Fri., Oct. 28), and a holiday-themed day trip to Behnke Nursery, the Gaylord National’s ICE! Exhibit, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and Brookside Gardens’ light show (Fri., Dec. 2).

See you on the bus.