Please Vote for Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park for USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Best Botanical Park in the USA!

Over the past years I have written a few times about the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park - typically about their amazing "Butterflies are Blooming" in March and April where thousands of butterflies are in the Tropical Conservatory or their "Christmas Around the World" in November and December. Three years ago my dear husband and I decided to give each other the gift of a membership to the Park. We decided on a grandparents membership - which allowed us and our grandchildren 18 and younger - to visit as often as we liked in the coming year. We added the guest option where were able to bring a guest as well and I have to say, we loved our membership! We thought this was a great membership plan, but Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park are making it even better! This year we are getting the Friends & Family Plus membership - it will let us continue to enjoy unlimited admission for us, and two  adult guests, plus eight children under age 18, AND a 10% discount at the gift ship, in the cafe, new in the ice cream parlor! We have happily renewed our membership!

Today I want to write about some fantastic, but not at all surprising, news -Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is nominated for the best botanical garden in the U.S., in a contest from USA Today’s Readers’ Choice! It has been voted as Top Sculpture Park for three years in a row - and rightfully so - and we will find out next week if they receive this honor for a fourth year in a row, but this is the first year it has been nominated for best botanical garden in the U.S., so if you do not know why it deserves to be the Top Botanical Garden this year, I want to take you on a "walk" through my favorite parts of the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park . . .

Let's start with a swing through "The Grove" - a lovely walk around a pond and nature with of course, interesting sculptures including "B Tree II".

As we head West on the main trail we arrive at two of my absolute favorite places in the  Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park - the Waterfall and "The Glen"! Both of these places have beautiful waterfalls, flowers, and trees and the Waterfalls also have Koi fish while "The Glen" has some very interesting sculptures.

From here we head North and then East on
the trail past a number of impressive sculptures and a lovely walk in "The Thicket". 

From here we go to another of my favorite places at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park - "The Richard & Helen DeVoss Japanese Gardens." I love the waterfalls in this area. I love the amazing flowers. I love the bridges and pond. I LOVE the Bonsai Tree Garden. If the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park consisted only of the Japanese Gardens it would be worthy of being the best Botanical Garden in America! But there is so much more!

We leave the Japanese Gardens and enjoy the "Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden", pass through the "Michigan's Farm Garden" on our way to the "Frey Boardwalk". During the Spring when my husband and I walk on the Boardwalk, we see Swans and Geese on their nests followed by their families swimming in the wetlands! Nature abounds on the Boardwalk!

Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park also has a fantastic Children's Garden - the "Lena Meijer's Children's Garden" which my grands have enjoyed when they were younger. You may recognize this photo as it is on the facebook page for this blog and is one of my favorite photos of my grands when they were younger - it is a photo taken at the Children's Garden. The Children's Garden is filled with flowers - I especially love their Sensory Garden, and the board walks at both ends of this amazing area - while children love it, so do adults!

All of these places in the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park are more than enough for them to receive first place in best sculpture park in America, but there is more! In the main building there is a Tropical Conservatory and it is amazing! There are plants, flowers, two waterfall features, more sculptures, and my grands' favorite - Chinese Painted Quail which run around much to the delight of everyone! I especially love the many beautiful orchids throughout the Tropical Conservatory and look forward to their beautiful poinsettias at Christmas!

The Tropical Conservatory is where they host their annual "Butterflies are Blooming" each March and April. But this is not all! There is the "Kenneth E. Nelson Carnivorous Plant House", "Earl & Donnalee Holton Arid Garden and Victorian Garden Parlor", "Grace Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse", "The Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden", and the "Stuart and Barbara Padnos Rooftop Sculpture Garden" - where if you are lucky, you will be able to see some beautiful Perry Super Star Lotus in the Summer!

This is just an overview - a quick "trip" through some of the highlights of the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park - clearly it is most certainly deserving of the award for the Best Botanical Garden in America as there is so much to see and enjoy! If you live near Grand Rapids, MI definitely get a membership - if you have it, you will use it - all year long! We typically go every week at least once. If you do not live near, make it a must-see destination on your "bucket list" and plan to come visit - you will be SO glad you did!

I would like to ask you to take a moment to vote for Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park as the Top Botanical Park in the Nation - if you would like to vote for them you are able to do so at this link. Thank you!

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