Tour de Michigan

In August, the GIE Media crew packed its bags and loaded up a features-loaded minivan at 6 a.m. and headed west from Cleveland for a two-day road trip across the state of Michigan for the 2012 Michigan Gardens Tour.

The ninth annual tour took us to seven different stops in the two-day period: Four Star Greenhouse, Michigan State Horticulture Gardens, Walters Gardens, Spring Meadow Nursery, Pell Greenhouses, Mast Young Plants and C. Raker and Sons.

Several sites featured beautiful display gardens, while others featured trial gardens for their own products as well as customer products and All-America Selections trials. Each displayed the newest varieties of annuals, perennials, shrubs and vegetables. The major benefit of the tour is the opportunity to see these new species in the habitat they’ll end up in – how do they hold up when they’re surrounded by other plants and subjected to the elements? The over-arching theme we saw over and again was beautiful varieties that withstood the extreme heat and drought of this Midwest summer season.

Here are some “postcards” from the tour that we thought you might enjoy, just in case you couldn’t make it yourself.

1. Four Star Greenhouse
Carleton, Mich.
The display gardens at Four Star Greenhouse feature Proven Winners varieties. Despite the extreme heat and drought, the gardens performed well.

2. Michigan State Horticulture Gardens
East Lansing, Mich.
The Michigan State Horticulture Gardens had the greenest grass on the campus and were well-kept in the heat and drought.

3. Walter Gardens
Zeeland, Mich.
Walters Gardens had several strong performers. We also toured their greenhouse facilities, where they’ve implemented processes to increase productivity.

4. Spring Meadow Nursery
Grand Haven, Mich.
Spring Meadow Nursery will have several new varieties available at retail next year, which were released to growers this year.

5. Pell Greenhouses
Hudsonville, Mich.
Pell Greenhouses has an extensive mum nursery in addition to its greenhouse space. Its display gardens feature its own varieties as well as those from Green Fuse Botanicals.

6. Mast Young Plants Grand Rapids, Mich. Mast Young Plants had an extensive trial garden that mixed outdoor living ideas with its trials.	7. C. Raker and Sons Lichfield, Mich Trial gardens at C. Raker and Sons feature extensive All-America Selections trials.