I'm looking for some gardens to tour in the midwest.

Help me find some really great gardens and garden centers to visit next year. I'm interested in going to Mn., Ia, Mo.,Ill., or Ne. If you've visited some really great gardens and centers that you think are ön the "gotta see before you die" list please let me know...I'm starting my "gardens that I've got to see list" for next year. Thanks!

Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, MO, Powell Gardens in Kingsville, MO, Kauffman Gardens in Kansas City, the Botanical gardens in Chicago.

There are others but I can't think of them off the top of my head right now.

Quad City Botanical Garden - Rock Island, Il. (pictured) and VanderVeer Botanical Park in Davenport, Ia.

VanderVeer

I remeber one in Perioa, IL Garden Botanical

There are the rose gardens in Loose Park, Kansas City, MO.

In Columbia Mo there is a Shelter Insurance has a nice garden. We also have jeffson farms which is a demonstration farm open to the public.

Wikipedia list of botanical gardens in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_botanical_gardens_in_the_United_States

Reiman Gardens, in Ames, IA. It has won all sorts of awards!

http://www.reimangardens.iastate.edu/

This is practically in your back yard. If you haven't visited it yet, you simply must!

Angie

Yes, Ames, Ia. Reiman Gardens, could spend a week there. Don't miss this one..JoAnne

Anderson's Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL, it's spectacular!

Some of the best I've seen belong to Daves Garden members. You can start with mine. Others I know of are wandaflowers, llilfan, LarryR, Alwaysweeding, TwinLakesChef, all in Iowa. Maxine in Wisconsin, Equilibrium in Illinois.
I have more respect for these gardens that are tended by these individuals than the ones that use public money & hired help. Think what you could do if you had millions to spend!

Almost any DG member would be happy to show their gardens. You also can get their first hand knowledge at no charge.

Have a Great Day!
Bernie

Bernie, that is lovely!

Pick a type of gardening spot (e.g., public garden, park, farmers market, u-pick, garden center, etc.) and specify ZIP code and radius (or just select a particular state) and away you'll go in our own Go Gardening feature: http://davesgarden.com/products/go/

Olbrich Garden in Madison is one of the best I've seen (and I've seen a lot).

Sorry to chime in late - CountryGardens, I agree! I'm a big fan of Powell Gardens, Shaw's Garden, etc., but to see what REAL gardeners do, I'd rather visit a personal garden, with all it's weeds, budget constraints, flaws and weird pairings so I can see what others do. I know several private gardens in Kansas City that are certainly worthy of a visit.

In England, there is a national society of private gardens that are open on selected dates during the year. You buy an annual guide to the gardens and sometimes pay an entrance fee, with the proceeds going to charity.

The Greater Kansas City Garden Center Association (www.gardencenterassociation.org) plans an "Open Garden" schedule so members can set dates to hold their garden open (for members only), but the last time I checked, it wasn't yet operative. The idea is great - I can invite members to my garden when I expect the tulips, iris or daylilies to be blooming, without the bother of being on a garden tour. Since it's the first year, I'm not sure what the acceptance will be.

Maybe the DG members could do something similar - just an idea.