Places to visit on a trip to Madison WI ???

Hey there Y'all. Looking for "don't miss this" places to stop at along the way and back to Madison WI. I'm heading from Raleigh NC up there with my pickup in about two weeks. Going to the AIS nationals at Madison. pickup is going empty, or maybe some small items. but I hope it's coming back full with plants!

Thinking I may stop at one or two places on the way up, route is - "uh... that'a way". But back home I've just got to head due east around that lakey thingy and head over past Kalamazoo MI(ensata.com) and on over to Hallson's just east of there.

Looking for:

gardens open to see, especially with irises or hostas, or shade gardening

arboretums

great nursery centers

Suggestions?

I've found more marvelous little specialty gardens and such just by asking these sorts of questions to my DG friends.

If you're coming through the Columbus, Ohio area, Dawes Arboretum in Newark is incredible. It has many unusual specimens of all kinds of trees and shrubs. The landscaping and views are amazing. It's on SR13, not far north of I-70. http://dawesarb.org It's worth the trip.

BON! Are you coming up 75? If you are, I'm a mile from the interstate! I would so love it if you could stop! Are you traveling alone?

alone yes - not sure the route joyce

typing difficutl with bound fingers

trying to go up to maryland 1st, then hit I-70 - - - maybe so thanks gardenwife

The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL is a "don't miss" place - though there may not be much that is translatable to NC. It is on the southwest side of the urban area, off I-88/I-355 I think. Chicago Botanic Garden on the north side is great too.

If you like hostas and you are anywhere in the middle north of Ohio, you cannot skip Wade & Gatton Nurseries near Bellville OH (not far from Mansfield, if I recall). One of the largest and finest hosta displays around.

There's another fine place in Mansfield - Kingwood Gardens, I think, that is the grounds of an old estate.

In Madison, the UW campus Langenecker Arboretum is a fun place to peruse.

Not far to the south, there's the Klehm Arboretum in Rockford IL.

That's all I can think of right now. The great nurseries I know up there are all wholesale places.

Hey! I live in Ohio and didn't know about that hosta place. It is definitely on my "to do" list now!

I'm pretty sure the national Hosta Society (whatever the correct title is) toured Wade & Gatton when they last held their national meeting in Ohio.

Van Wade was a great guy. We bought a lot of his large trees for the thoroughbred horse farms I used to work for, back before he got bitten by the hosta bug and devoted the whole front hillside of his nursery property to their display (along with a zillion other perennials). I think that would have been in the late 1980s.

It was spectacular then, when I first saw it. Imagine I'd faint dead away seeing it now, with 20 years maturity on it.

I remember there was a 9 foot wide 'Sum and Substance'...

whoa! 9 feet? gotta see that!

hmm. Got Kingwood on my list. arboretums, check. I'm excited. Cheryl wade has already emailed back for me to come by there.

Take lots of pics. It's been a long time since I've seen there place (local government doesn't allow for travel to great nurseries out of state these days).

Get an image of yourself stretched out next to the 'Sum and Substance' - that'd make a great calendar shot.

LOL