MLive says: “When you look up a location on Instagram and see countless photos of weddings, senior portrait sessions and engagements, you know it's a place you should see in person. Hidden Lake Gardens feels like a never-ending garden filled with all the colors of the rainbow and more. The 750+ acre botanical garden, arboretum and conservatory owned by Michigan State University is known for a huge variety of flowers and plants, including many rare varieties. Over 10 miles of hiking trails will let you explore the grounds, or you can opt to take the six miles of paved road.”
June 19, 2021
This particular county has fallen off my radar dozens of times; I feel like I could list every county in Michigan by heart after this project, but Lenawee just doesn’t stick! I also have no idea how to say it. After packing up camp in Branch County, I headed East to check out Hidden Lake Gardens as suggested by the article. As I approached, rain clouds gathered up and let loose on the southern part of Michigan. After waiting it out in the car for a short while, with leftover Skittles from my drive-in movie the night before, I braved the drizzles and went exploring.
Hidden Lake Gardens has a paved road that takes you through the different locations of the property - I considered walking it and am glad I didn’t: there are some serious uphill climbs along the way! The first stop on the one-way tour is the Hosta Hillside. This particular spot was absolutely beautiful and is enough of a reason to visit this spot on its own. In the rain, the hostas were shimmering and whimsical; the nameplates identifying the dozens of varieties added to the whimsy with names like “picture perfect,” “first frost,” and “tiny dancer.”
As I drove through the gardens, I stopped for short hiking trails, to admire wildflowers, and to check out specialty plants brought in to be propagated here. I especially enjoyed the last stop, which was a whole other hillside dedicated to coniferous tree species - it smelled SO GOOD.
At the conclusion of the drive, with very wet shoes and lots of new plants to research at home, I was delighted to find a small conservatory! You all should know by now how I feel about a conservatory moment (hint: I feel ecstatic). I donned my mask and took a peek inside, where a staff member directed me to three different biomes as well as an outdoor bonsai (correct pronunciation that I learned here: bone-sigh) garden. Once again, I took endless pleasure in being able to name a majority of the plants inside of the greenhouse biomes, and made an extensive list of ones I want to locate for my own enjoyment at home (because 70+ houseplants just isn’t enough).
The gardens featured some longer hiking trails that I didn’t utilize on this particular day (the rain came and went quite frequently). I would love to return and check those out, possibly in the fall: I can only imagine how beautiful this location is with a little of color on the trees and fall wildflowers making their annual appearance. Overall, this was a lovely spot and I would highly recommend it for any aspiring horticulturist or plant parents looking to grow their family.