Today I went with a friend to visit Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. Both of us are gardeners and neither of us had been there before. We got there at 9:00am and started in the conservatory buildings.

The Holton Arid Garden:

Meerkats! There are sculptures and artwork throughout the conservatory.

Followed by the Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse and the Holton Victorian Garden Parlor.

Then into the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory.

We saw a Bishop’s Weaver…

And a Common Canary.

After the conservatory, we stepped out to the Tassel English Perennial and Bulb Garden. It smelled like lavender. I wish my whole life was scented in such a lovely manner!

Next we made our way to the Nina Akamu Leonardo da Vinci’s horse.

There’s Lois, so you can get an idea of how big it really is.

We continued on through the Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden (here is the kettle pond)

And stopped at the Michigan Farm Garden.

After all that walking, we made our way back to the main building, where we had lunch in the Taste of the Gardens Cafe. Awesome meal. The Cafe has food grown on the property, as well as the glass ceiling sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly. If it looks familiar, the artist has work at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

It was a lovely day, and another bite of summer grabbed fresh.