WELCOMING NEW GARDENS TO THE WELCOME CENTER

The new Welcome Center is now open, greatly enhancing the arrival, admission and orientation experience for all who visit. This central element of our multi-year Welcoming the World: Honoring a Legacy of Love expansion project continues our mission of promoting the enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of gardens, sculpture, the natural environment and the arts. Let’s take a minute to talk about the new gardens.

Several horticultural highlights can be found in these new spaces, as diverse garden offerings continue to expand in newly opened areas, both inside and out. The new parking lots are not just parking lots, but diverse urban gardens. A newly reimagined Ram’s Garden is in full view from the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Ticketing Center. Mimi’s Garden is a surprise waiting to be discovered within the lower Courtyard Level of the Welcome Center. These examples are all waiting to be explored and enjoyed as part of the expanded guest experience.

The new parking lots have been conceived as a living oasis. Garden islands are designed to channel guests toward the main entry walkway and create an attractive urban garden featuring an abundance of plantings. Over 35 types of trees and woody shrubs have been planted in this area, including unique and hardy specimens like the Swiss stone pine, Pinus cembra, a narrow pyramidal evergreen tree that provides dark green color in the landscape. Native to the mountains of Europe and Asia, this pine has stiff yet soft 3-inch long needles in bundles of five, which are often twisted, with a blue green to light green color. Over 50 perennial plant varieties can be found within these island beds. On the south end of the newest lot is a living wall which has been planted with over 800 perennials. This wall includes North American native Pennsylvania sedge and ‘Undaunted’ muhly grass, as well as hardy perennials like Lamium ‘Purple Dragon’ and Allium ‘Balloon Bouquet’.

The Ram’s Garden has been redesigned to be the striking primary view from within the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Ticketing Center. This reimagined garden space features a textural backdrop of spruce, pine, hornbeam and birch trees. The layering of trees frames a closer garden tapestry of low perennials in mixed hues of green, blue-gray and white. Pagoda dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, is a tree native to Eastern North America. Several delightful examples of pagoda dogwood frame the Ram’s Garden view. These specimen trees were grown at a nursery in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and are not commonly seen in the landscape. They are an excellent native tree with a unique horizontal branching pattern that forms a distinct tiered habit, often catching snow in the winter. Clusters of white flowers show up in spring, dark green foliage turns a beautiful burgundy red in fall, and blue-black berries create winter interest.

Continuing inside and down to the Courtyard Level, natural light streams in to illuminate the relocated Peter M. Wege Library, new volunteer center and central gathering space. Through the windows is Mimi’s Garden, where the intimate plantings look as though they have been transplanted from a shaded woodland. This new garden space features several very special trees that will mature over time. The understory trees are the familiar eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis. Redbud flowers in the early springtime, before the leaves appear, with petite pinkish-purple flowers that emerge along the dark grey twigs. The three larger trees are native pawpaw, Asimina triloba. Pawpaw is native to the eastern and central United States, including south-central Michigan, and it is a surprisingly well-kept secret. The pawpaw trees in this garden have been grown from Michigan seed and will take a few years to mature and produce the ruddy spring flowers which are often hidden amongst the newly emerging chartreuse leaves. The fruit can be scarce, but those who experience it are not likely to forget its delightful aroma and flavor. The lower plantings in this garden are a mix of ferns and woodland perennials with a carpet of groundhugging scotch moss. Scotch moss is actually not a moss at all, though its compact mats of foliage will spread over time and grow to a foot or more in width and just 1–2 inches tall. Tufts of slender leaves cover thin, creeping stems, and small star-shaped flowers are produced beginning in late spring, blanketing the garden floor.

There is so much to experience at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture park. As these new areas open, our gardens will continue to expand and evolve. Plants will provide the first spring flush of color in these areas and gardens will continue to change throughout the season. Our grounds are full of wonder and anticipation as plants transition with color and life.