Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculptur Park

Photo courtesy : www.meijergardens.org
Frederick Meijer Gardens

Spring is here and Pradheep and me decided to explore few places in Michigan that we had short-listed.We had heard about the Frederick Meijer Gardens at Grand Rapids,Michigan and finally one weekend we had decided to go.We were there just before 2 weeks to the Meijer Gardens.We were debating if we should go or not,because the weather forecast said that it would rain in the city where we lived.Finally we decided to go!I packed all our stuff made lunch and packed for the two of us.

Bonsai of White Cedar approximately 900 years old at the All State Michigan Bonsai show

We reached Grand Rapids and it was drizzling till we reached the gardens.Hoping that it was not a wrong decision to land at the botanical garden on a rainy day we went ahead with the Bonsai show that was the special feature for the weekend.I love Bonsai, amazed at how artistic
people can be."Bonsai"is developing woody or semi-woody plants shaped as trees, by growing them in containers. Cultivation includes techniques for shaping, watering, and re-potting in various styles of containers.The history of "Bonsai" stretches back to the Egyptian dynasty (4000 BC),the art was adopted and reformed by Chinese and Japanese later on.Pradheep had not seen "Bonsai" trees earlier and he was amazed at a few of them.I wanted to buy a "Bonsai" for home but decided against it as I was new to gardening and did not want to ruin a lovely tree by not knowing how to take care of it.

The Leonardo Da Vinci horse (24 ft high made of bronze)

The Frederick Meijer gardens is basically a botanical garden with nature trails,outdoor sculptor park and the botanical garden that had been subdivided into the tropical conservatory,carnivorous plant house,the arid garden,English perennial garden and the seasonal garden.I loved the tropical garden and the carnivorous plant house.We got to seem some trees belonging to the palm family,very much like the vegetation at India.The arid garden was also impressive as they had a lot of cacti and succulents that would grow to their best only in very warm temperatures and the temperature was very warm and dry at the arid garden.We also got to see few Pitcher plant at the carnivorous section.I had not seen a pitcher plant in real before so was a little excited.

Pitcher plant at the Carnivorous plant section

The sculpture park was okay, it was different, we were amazed by the bronze sclpture of the 24 ft horse.The sculpture was designed by Nina Akamu, an American sculptor.This serves as a homage to Leonardo da Vinci and his design to make a 24 ft sculpture at Milan.
We took a lot of pictures,had coffee at the Taste of the Gardens Cafe and drove back home.Was a good day.