Expansive public gardens throughout Michigan provide a place where you can enjoy perennial favorites. These gardens offer an opportunity to explore beautifully planted grounds, nature areas and conservatories. Visitors can view native flowers and trees, as well as many exotic imports. While spring and summer boast some of the most beautiful perennial blooms, these gardens provide enjoyment for every season.
Located in the state capital of Lansing, Cooley Gardens offers a stunning array of flowers. The grounds feature more than 800 perennials, with 75 varieties of roses, an iris collection, a peony garden and 250 woodland plants. The park is comprised of garden rooms, each having its own planting theme and enclosed with shrubbery. The gardens reflect the style of an English cottage garden, where roses intertwine with hydrangeas, hostas and columbines. The nonprofit group Friends of Cooley Gardens and the city of Lansing maintain the park and gardens.
Cooley Gardens Park
225 West Main Street
Lansing, MI 48933
517-483-4277
cooleygardens.org
Dow Gardens, located in midstate, is a sprawling, 110-acre garden featuring a wealth of perennial and annual flowers, along with more than 1,700 varieties of trees. The vast majority of the perennials are in bloom between the months of June and September. The park offers various areas to explore, including a stream walk, a forest and the estate area, which features the historic home of Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow. The Color Garden displays the largest concentrations of perennials, including magnolias, tulips and lilacs. Within the Exploration Garden is the rose garden, in which most of the All-America rose varieties bloom each year. Dow Gardens is open year-round for tours. During the winter, visitors can still view plants and flowers in the conservatory.
Dow Gardens
1809 Eastman Avenue
Midland, MI 48640
800-362-4874
dowgardens.org
Fernwood Botanic Garden, on the St. Joseph River in southwest Michigan, is a 105-acre site that features gardens, a nature preserve, an arboretum and hiking trails. Perennials are on display throughout the grounds, including a lilac garden that dates back to the 1940s. In the Hosta Bowl area, visitors can view aconites, daffodils, amaryllis and an array of hostas. Many attractive perennials also bloom on the edge of the forest near the Winter House. Guided tours of Fernwood are available all year.
Fernwood Botanic Garden and Nature Preserve
13988 Range Line Road
Niles, MI 49120
269-695-6491
fernwoodbotanical.org
Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, located in Grand Rapids, has more than 118 acres of gardens. The English Perennial Garden provides an arrangement of roses, scabiosas, daylilies and eupatorium enclosed by a serpentine yew hedge. Guests will find hydrangeas, geraniums, daffodils and trillium among the trees in the Woodland Shade Garden. Other perennial displays appear in the Victorian and Seasonal Gardens. In addition to the outdoor gardens, Frederick Meijer Gardens is home to the largest tropical conservatory in Michigan, featuring more than 500 tropical species from around the world, as well a carnivorous-plant house.
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
1000 East Beltline NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
616-957-1580
meijergardens.org
Matthaei Botanical Gardens at the University of Michigan features 350 acres of botanical gardens, including a conservatory housing more than 1,200 exotic plants. The color-coordinated perennial garden displays waves of vibrant blooms, including poppies, irises, pink mallows, asters, mums and more. Also on the grounds is the Nichols Arboretum, which in the spring features world-renowned peony gardens as well as an impressive half-mile-long line of daffodils. In 2003, 10,000 daffodil bulbs were planted to create this work of art. In addition, a field of daffodils greets visitors at the entrance to the grounds. Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum are open year-round.
Matthaei Botanical Gardens
1800 North Dixboro Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
734-647-7600
lsa.umich.edu/mbg
