Top Things to do in Michigan
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Things to do in Michigan, United States: The Best Gardens
Think you need an ocean for a beach? Think again. There are miles and miles of sandy lakefront beaches in Michigan (thanks to the four Great Lakes that border it). The west coast of Michigan has especially nice beaches—try a rental in Muskegon, Grand Haven or Saugatuck. You won’t need a car when visiting Mackinac Island. In fact, they’re not allowed—this lovely Victorian resort town is pedestrian-only.
Restaurants in Michigan
1. 4-H Children's Garden
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 83 reviews
Children are the focus of this garden - they even helped in the planning of the 60 small, themed gardens.
Reviewed By MarmeladeGypsy - Lansing, United States
The MSU Children's Garden is number one on my list of places to take visitors to the Lansing area -- and to just go for a lovely time in a beautiful and clever garden. Note the pizza garden (with peppers and tomatoes); the Peter Rabbit garden (with all kinds of salad items); the Alice in Wonderland maze; the Monet bridge; a xylophone you play with your feet and many other lovely spots. There are benches for sitting and it's a delightful spot for a picnic. It's adjacent to the horticulture gardens for a lovely walk.
2. Belle Isle Nature Center
3. Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2,947 reviews
View modern sculpture in a stunning garden setting at this combination botanical garden and sculpture park, which features exotic plants, desert and Victorian gardens, wetlands, meadows, and sculptures by famous artists throughout.
Reviewed By Relax778849
Our son’s family lives in Grand Rapids, so we often visit Meier Gardens. It’s enjoyable whether we visit during Christmas to see decorated trees from other countries, summer to walk the garden paths and visit the children’s garden where the grandkids can run and climb, or during the butterfly exhibit in the spring. The special exhibits are interesting as well.
4. The Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park
5. Michigan State University Horticultural Gardens
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 38 reviews
Reviewed By TravelingTitus - East Lansing, United States
This is a fun place to take children or a date. Obviously, this is a warmer weather place to go. Easiest to see after students are gone.
6. Leila Arboretum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
Reviewed By limila - Grand Rapids, United States
We went to see the fantasy forest.....trees have been transformed into carvings of all sorts of mystical creatures. They have free concerts on Thursdays in August....we just happened upon it and the concert was great.
7. Cranbrook House and Gardens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 98 reviews
Incredible vistas at every turn, the relaxing melody of water streaming out of several iconic fountains, the comforting smell of flowers in one of the many remarkable gardens, the feeling of history and architectural wonder all around you…just a taste of what awaits at Cranbrook House and Gardens, a National Historic Landmark. Cranbrook House is a 1908 estate designed in the Arts & Crafts style by noted Detroit architect, Albert Kahn, for the founders of Cranbrook, newspaper mogul George Gough Booth and his wife, Ellen Scripps Booth. From spring through fall, guests can tour the oldest manor home in metro-Detroit and the beautiful 40 acres of gardens that surround it; both maintained brilliantly by a non-profit, volunteer run organization, Cranbrook House and Gardens Auxiliary. We invite you to explore our historic estate, take a tour, join a program or attend an event. Members/volunteers and donations are always welcome as well. We hope you enjoy your time at Cranbrook House and Gardens and thank you in advance for visiting!
Reviewed By oldguywithtime
The gardens are absolutely spectacular. They are well maintained and beautiful. The setting is very special. The home is majestic and the spacious grounds provide so many places to pause and take in the entire experience. A walk around the grounds is such a wonderful respite from all the stresses of life. If you haven't been there, go. You will go back over and over again.
8. Lafayette Greens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
9. Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 261 reviews
Telling the story of Edsel and Eleanor Ford and their family through their historic home on the shores of Lake St. Clair. We offer tours, programs and special events at this National Historic Landmark. Edsel Ford was the son of Henry Ford, and he built his grand home in the style of the Cotswold villages in England. Surrounded by 87 acres of scenic lakeside grounds, the home and landscape are open for tours in all seasons. The home was designed by prominent Detroit architect Albert Kahn and Jens Jensen, one of America's foremost landscape designers and conservationists. It is filled with original antique furnishings, as well as art from the Fords' vast collection. Ford House also hosts popular events, including a Fairy Tale Festival in June, Detroit Symphony concerts in July and holiday tours and events in December.
Reviewed By MartyF_12 - Plymouth, United States
As you travel to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford house in Grosse Pointe Shores, you'll find yourself passing through one of the most wealthy areas of Michigan, with grand homes stretching for miles along the shore of Lake St. Clair. From the Ford Home parking lot, it's a short walk to the Gate House visitor center where you can purchase tickets, browse a small museum store and view a 5-minute video about Edsel and Eleanor Ford and their four children. (NOTE: 50-minute tours start every 1/2 hour or every 20 minutes during holiday periods. Reservations are strongly recommended, as tour groups are small. You can take a free shuttle bus or walk to the main house for the tour.) Surprisingly, the tour and video pay little attention to the larger Ford family and Edsel's role in the Ford Motor Company. This would have been of interest during the tour itself, so in the next three paragraphs below I'll give you a bit of background. If your interest is solely in the house, just skip the next three paragraphs..... Edsel Ford was the only son of Henry Ford and Clara Ford, Henry being the founder of the Ford Motor Company and one of America's historic figures. Edsel came to the car industry easily, as during his childhood years he and his father tinkered together on cars. He was groomed for the business, serving in several positions before assuming the Presidency of Ford in 1919. While Henry and Edsel were close as father and son, they did not always agree on the direction of the company, with the elder Henry devoted to his simplistic Model T and Edsel pushing for more modern design. This dynamic eventually resulted in the introduction of the Model A, which was a big success, selling four million vehicles in four years of production. Still, Edsel pushed for more modernization, leading him to purchase the Lincoln Motor Company; later Edsel himself introduced the Mercury lineup of cars. Edsel was also instrumental in bringing about the luxurious Lincoln Continental model. In the early years of WWII, Edsel focused on the company's production of B-24 bombers at the Ford Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti, MI, achieving a production goal of one bomber per hour! Edsel married Eleanor Clay, a niece of J.L. Hudson, the famed department store founder. They wished for a family home somewhat removed from the Dearborn-centered Ford business and chose the Grosse Point Shores area, along Lake St. Clair, to build their family home. As devoted parents, this is where they raised their four children -- Henry Ford II, Benson Ford, Josephine Clay Ford and William Clay Ford. William was the last survivor of these four children, passing away in 2014. In 1943, at just 49 years old, Edsel succumbed to stomach cancer, leaving his 80-year-old father to resume the Presidency of Ford for two years until handing it over to Edsel's eldest son, Henry Ford II, in 1945. Edsel's wife, Eleanor, continued to live at their home on Lake Ste. Clair for another 33 years, until her death in 1976. Much of Edsel's stock in the Ford company became the basis for the Ford Foundation. During their lifetimes Edsel and Eleanor both were major benefactors of charitable causes, including the Detroit Institute of Art. After Eleanor's death, many of the paintings in the home were given to the DIA. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford Home was designed in 1927 by famed architect Albert Kahn, who was already close to the Ford family, having in 1909 designed Henry Ford's original Highland Park plant, where Henry perfected the assembly line in producing Model T's. Later, in 1917, Kahn designed the original huge Ford River Rouge Complex (later expanded), which was the largest factory in the world at that time, being 1/2 mile long and providing work for over 100,000 employees. Kahn was much more than an industrial designer, however, as he designed many iconic buildings in Detroit, nearby Windsor, Ontario, and at the University of Michigan before taking on the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House project in 1927. Among those earlier projects were the Hiram Walker Offices in Windsor, Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit News Building, Detroit Free Press Building, and UM's Angell Hall, Clements Library and Hill Auditorium, among others. It was only natural that Edsel and Eleanor turned to Kahn for the design of their home. Concurrent with the Ford Home project, Kahn designed Detroit's iconic Fisher Building. Kahn, Edsel and Eleanor traveled to England to consider English styles for the home. When the three arrived in the Cotswold villages area (about 2 hours northwest of London) they found the style they wanted and Kahn designed their home with that style in mind. While construction of the 60-room, 30,000 square foot home (you'll see about 20 rooms) took only one year, it took an additional two years to complete the interior as many of the features were actually imported from England and other European countries. Fireplaces, stairways, relief-carved wood paneling, stained glass windows and many other features, dating from as early as the 1400's, made their way across the Atlantic to the Ford home. As a juxtaposition to the European influence of most of the first floor, you'll find one room on the first floor and the bedrooms of the three sons on the second floor in an art deco style, designed by Walter Teague, a leading industrial designer of the 1930's. This is a reflection of Edsel's interest in modern design. In addition to the guided tour of the home, you'll also see Josephine's "Playhouse" a child-sized house built for her as a present from Clara Ford, Henry's wife. At $15.000, this playhouse was bulit at a time when the average American home cost about $5,000. At the north end of the house you can visit the power plant, while beyond the south end are the swimming pool and "Recreation House". Beyond the Recreation House is the garden area, featuring gardens designed by Jens Jensen, a renowned garden designer of the time. Jensen designed the gardens at all four of the homes owned by Edsel and Eleanor. Scheduled to be completed in 2020 are two new buildings on the 87-acre site, a 40,000 sf Visitor Center and a new 15,000 sf Administration Building. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House is well worth a visit. It has an interesting mix of grandeur without the ostentatiousness one might experience in the homes of other wealthy familes and industrialists of times past. This was truly a family home and despite its size, one can feel the family intimacy that filled these rooms. Admission is $12 adults, $11 seniors, $8 children 6-12, and free for 5 and under. Ford House Members are free. Grounds-only Admission is $5 for adults, free for children under 5, Highly Recommended! Enjoy....
10. Matthaei Botanical Gardens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 393 reviews
A 300-acre garden with a variety of outdoor displays and nature trails for exploring.
Reviewed By virginiam990 - Ann Arbor, United States
There is much to see both inside and outside. A maze, play area. Inside wonderful plants and cute gift shop. Pillar area for wedding. Really beautiful watch for special events.
