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Southsider2k12
post Jul 7 2011, 06:42 AM
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http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/home-a...761192a654.html

QUOTE
This summer leave your own gardening tasks behind and take the time to enjoy the work of others by visiting the many gardens open to the public in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.

The 300-acre Taltree Arboretum and Gardens in Valparaiso is a delight of wetlands, woodlands, prairies and gardens including the Hitz Family Rose Garden. Criss-crossed with walking trails and brimming with both wild flowers and cultivated blooms as well as native grasses and wildlife such as herons, wild turkeys, purple finches, frogs, warblers, turtles, bobolinks and a beaver or two, Taltree's collections include the Oak Islands exhibit with more than 40 different oak species from all over the globe, the Welcome Garden with its vast plantings of viburnum and the Native Plant Garden.

The 106-acre International Friendship Gardens in Michigan City, just blocks away from the Blue Chip Casino but seemingly in a different world, are an oasis of tranquility and beauty. Located on land that was once the home of the Pottawatomi Indians, the grounds include a Native American garden, one of six that highlight the gardening customs of the world. History also intersects with three brothers from Hammond, Indiana, creators of "An Old Mill Garden" for the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair, "A Century of Progress International Exposition." The gardens so impressed Dr. Frank Warren and his wife that they asked the brothers to re-create them near their home in Michigan City and they opened in 1936 with the help of such luminaries as Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who donated 200,000 tulips while the King of England sent plants and a royal gardener to make an English Garden. Even the King of Persia pitched in, sending roses. Besides six international gardens, there are 58 formal gardens, pathways, lakes and meandering creeks.

Seven communities in Elkhart County in Northwest Indiana banded together several years ago to create the unique Quilt Gardens Driving Tour, so named after the handmade quilts which are so much a part of this Amish community, the third largest in the country. Download a driving map (or pick one up at the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau) and hit the road, traveling along the winding back roads to enjoy 18 beautiful gardens planted with a total of over 100,000 blooms to represent quilt patterns. There are also 18 super-sized murals at 12 locations along the route.

And while you're in Elkhart County, be sure to stop at Wellfield Botanic Gardens just a few blocks north of Elkhart's historic downtown. The 36-acre garden includes 18 acres of water and is located where, since the mid 1800s, the city has drawn its water. A work in progress, two major gardens, the Robert and Peggy Weed "English Cottage Garden" and the Stuart and Paula Barb "Annual Garden," are already part of the landscape with 21 more in the process of being established.

A part of Fort Wayne's bustling downtown, the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory offers both 25,000 square feet of indoor gardens including Tropical and Desert Gardens, and four outdoor gardens for a total of more than 1,200 plants. The conservatory is family-friendly and frequently hosts events for children.

Considered one of the country's most significant botanic and sculpture settings, The Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, attracts more than a half-million visitors each year. The grounds include Michigan's largest tropical conservatory -- the 15,000-square-foot Lena Meijer Conservatory -- as well as one of the largest children's gardens in the country. There are arid and Victorian gardens, a carnivorous plant house, and numerous outdoor gardens such as an English Perennial Garden and a Woodland Shade Garden. The park's 1,750-seat outdoor amphitheater set amidst a terraced lawn features weekly concerts in the summer and there are tours and walking paths through the 30-acre Sculpture Park, where works by Rodin, Oldenburg, Calder, Moore, Bourgeois, Plensa and others are on display.

The Chicago Botanic Garden, with its 24 display gardens and four natural areas, is described as a 385-acre living plant museum. It's perfect for kids, offering such attractions as the 7,500-square-foot Model Railroad Garden: Landmarks of America, with its 17 garden-scale trains that travel more than 22,000 miles past 50 familiar miniature American landmarks such as the White House, all hand made from natural materials. There's also a Sensory Garden, brimming with plants known for their fragrances, sounds, colors, textures and movement, and a Waterfall Garden with a 45-foot cascade surrounded by more than 26,000 plants and trees.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/home-a...l#ixzz1RQHMQjdn
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