If you go
The garden grounds are open year-round, though its visitors center and gift shop are closed in the winter. Upcoming events include a lantern hike on Sunday, Jan. 26. More info.
The garden began as an idea in 1999, says Karen Schmidt, chair of the garden's board. It took a while to actually come to fruition.
But eventually, it took root. And for a decade now, visitors have been flocking to the acreage on the site of an old state hospital in Traverse City, to see plants, walk a labyrinth, attend events and — in some cases — get married.
The garden has been working toward its future, too. Renovations are underway on a dairy barn next to its historic visitors center. And there are other plans for the future, in line with a 100-year master site plan crafted back when the garden was first created.
Schmidt says the community support has been incredible.
Interview Highlights
On the history of the land: "Dr. Munson, when he founded the hospital, he really subscribed to the philosophy of the Quakers in treating and caring for folks with mental illness. One of the things he believed in was that beauty is therapy. He designed the hospital and the gardens and the grounds around the hospital to be beautiful, because he felt that helped people physically and emotionally. We find the same thing. When we're working here, when our volunteers are working here, there's a marvelous sense of purpose. And it's a good thing."
On whether being at the garden ever gets old: "Never. Never! It's something new every day. It's a different garden every day. When it's growing there's something new growing every day. And even in the winter, right now, watching these hedges lose their golden leaves and scatter down the ground — it's beautiful."
On seeing the garden come to fruition: "It's been glorious. It's been glorious. how many people have the opportunity to be involved in something like that and see it happen? It's been a really life changing experience for me, and I'm so glad we did it."
On its future: "We have an amazing new executive director, Matthew Ross, who is an incredible man with a great background in horticulture and design — a very gifted man, and very enthusiastic about the garden. He's going to take (the master site plan) and make that happen. We have the long, long meadows that run all the way up to Copper Ridge, and I can see those meadows becoming just swaths of color ... filled with beautiful native plants, with pathways wending through them. We'll see the Asian garden evolving. We'll see a number of items in the master site plan evolving."
Reflecting, at age 80, on whether this garden is her legacy: "I don't call it a legacy, because it just has too much ego wrapped up in it, I think. But I remember my mom saying to me, 'Leave this world a better place than you found it when you first came. Leave something behind that makes it a better place.' And that was something she taught us all the time. ... I'm leaving behind something beautiful, and that's a joyful thing for me."
