Spring has sprung and Michigan has more flora than you could dream of! Kick off the season by visiting some of these garden destinations to add some color to your world. Keep your eye out for some of West Michigan’s loveliest wildflowers like the Blue-eyed Mary, the Skunk Cabbage, and the always beautiful Violet! 

Want to enjoy a delicious brew while taking in a beautiful garden? Check out West Michigan brewery River St. Joe in St. Joseph, where you can enjoy a plant-to-pint beer on their three acre beer garden, overlooking the vegetable garden and hopyard.

The Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum in South Haven is the only museum in the world dedicated solely to America’s Father of Modern Horticulture’s life and work. They pride themselves on their gorgeous botanic garden featuring a collection of interpretive horticultural gardens, community garden plots, and a wooded nature trail! 

Hickory Corners is home to the W.K. Kellogg Manor House and its lush garden views on Gull Lake. Visitors are welcome to take a self-guided tour year-round to enjoy these beautiful gardens on the historic grounds.

Visit the South Haven Garden Club’s Garden Tour on July 9th and view beautifully grown and curated gardens throughout the South Haven area. In addition there will be a plant sale, craft sale, and complimentary refreshments.

Connect with the ever changing but always lovely beauty of nature by walking the trails of Kalamazoo! With plenty of trails, parks, and woods to choose from, it’s time to start wandering. Downtown Kalamazoo also highlights beautiful flowers and topiaries in Bronson Park each year during Kalamazoo in Bloom. It’s also the site for the Friday lunchtime live series throughout the summer months, where you can enjoy food trucks and live music right in Bronson Park!

The gardens at Serendipity B&B in Saugatuck are beautifully designed, filling the grounds with flowering trees, perennials, annuals, and shade gardens. The garden areas are constantly changing throughout the seasons. 

While in the Saugatuck area, make sure to spend some time at the lovely Rose Garden, maintained by the City of Saugatuck, featuring a winding path surrounded by many rose bushes and other perennials.

Pierce Cedar Creek Institute in Hastings is a nature center, environmental education center, and biological field station located on 829 acres with 9 miles of hiking trails. Don’t miss out on this spring’s native plant sale to get your West Michigan garden a little more “back to its roots.” The deadline to purchase plants is May 15th.  

Step into the gardens and leave the hustle and bustle of the city noises behind on your next visit to the Greater Lansing area. You’ll find everything from an urban oasis to the Michigan State University demonstration and horticulture gardens. Check out the koi ponds, fresh blooms, and seasonal gardens that create the perfect backdrop for breathing in the serenity of nature. Each season brings its own unique beauty!

The East Garden at Krasl Art Center is an intimate outdoor space that inspires a sense of play, wonder, and reflection through interactive contemporary art installations. New projects are installed often, transforming and invigorating the space anew with fresh artistic vision. Underwritten by Horizon Bank & the Daniel F. Hopp Family.

Windmill Island Gardens in Holland will be opening for the season on Monday, April 18th, with the 2022 theme being “holidays”. You’re invited to enjoy their Dutch attractions and beautiful, lush gardens sprinkled with canals, bridges, and artwork. A botanical paradise, this 36-acre park gets its name from the only authentic Dutch windmill operating in the United States. De Zwaan is over 200 years old and sits upon picturesque grounds that make you feel transported to another country, or even century. Tulips are anticipated to be blooming from late April to mid-May, as well as hundreds of perennials and 5,000 annuals throughout the summer and early autumn.

Tulips have attracted millions of guests from all over the world to Holland. To celebrate the colorful and beloved flowers, Holland hosts the Tulip Time Festival, with events planned throughout the area. This year’s event runs May 7th-15th, 2022.

Click here to find more tulips and other gardens in Holland.

The Children’s Garden at Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids will be blooming again soon! With fresh vegetables, herbs, and flowers, there is plenty to admire on a stroll through the Children’s Garden. If you are interested in tasting some of these naturally grown varieties, you can! Blandford offers Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares for purchase where members will receive a weekly share of the harvest to enjoy at home. For more information or to purchase a share, visit Blandford’s website. 

One of the world’s most significant botanic and sculpture experiences, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids features Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory, one of the largest interactive children’s gardens in the country, arid and Victorian gardens, a carnivorous plant house, and much more green fun for the whole family.

Visit Muskegon to stop and smell the flowers at the Muskegon County Public Gardens. Did you know there is a miniature replica of the famous Giverny Monet Garden in Downtown Muskegon? Once a vacant city lot; this picturesque public pocket park beckons you to relax in a botanical, scenic setting. Don’t forget your camera!

Get garden inspiration at the Muskegon Lakeshore Home, Garden + Boat Show, returning on April 22nd and 23rd. Featuring over 60 exhibitors including everything from boats, home décor, furniture, landscaping and much more! Back by popular demand, the Do-It-Yourself and Demonstration seminars will highlight floral design, cooking, and additional demonstrations.

The Michigan gardens at Castle Farms in Charlevoix— formal and informal— are stunning works of natural beauty, matching any of their counterparts found throughout Europe. Whenever possible, native plants have been used; less labor intensive and more suited to the environment, the gardens of Castle Farms blend old-world models with a 21st century approach of sustainable gardening. Schedule your tour online here.

Explore twelve acres of lavender, flowers, a strawberry patch herb garden, and farmhouse-inspired garden shop in the Secret Garden at Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery in Traverse City, opening Memorial Day Weekend. 

Spring is here, and soon beautiful plants and flowers will be sprouting all around us. Your local farmers market is the perfect place to stock up on seedlings, fresh flowers, and potted plants to enjoy all season long! Find your market here.