Topiary Park

I don't know about you, but I've always found topiaries to be fascinating focal points of gardens.  If you like topiaries, the place to visit is Topiary Park, in downtown Columbus, Ohio.  The seven acre park is famous for its topiary interpretation of Georges Seurat's famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte.

The park was dedicated in 1992, but it goes back to the early 19th century.  It was once a part of the Old Deaf School Park. The concept came from artist, James T, Mason, who teaches sculpture at the Recreation and Park's Department of Cultural Arts Center. He designed and installed the frames and living topiaries.
  
The garden contains 54 topiary people, eight boats, 3 dogs, a monkey, a cat, and a pond, which represents the Seine River.  The largest feature is 12 feet tall.

The park is open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Admission is free.  The best viewing is April through November, when the greenery is in bloom.

New York Botanical Garden

New York Botanical Garden is located in the Bronx, New York. It was established in April of 1891 on the grounds of the Lorillard Estate, which was owned by tobacco magnate, Pierre Lorillard. It covers 250 acres and contains 50 different gardens and plant collections. These include a 50 acre old growth New York Forest great for hiking through, wetlands, a rose garden, Japanese garden, children's garden, and the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. 

No matter what time of year you go, it's always beautiful, and there are always plenty of activities going on. From November through January, there's a holiday train display that children and train enthusiasts will enjoy.

The gardens are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Grounds only admission for adults is $15.00 and children under 12 is $4.00. If you'd like to go inside the conservatory and see the special displays, the cost is $28.00 for adults and $12.00 for children.

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden is located in Saint Louis, Missouri. It is also known as "Shaw's Garden" for founder, Henry Shaw. Mr. Shaw began the garden in 1859. This makes the Missouri Botanical Garden one of oldest botanical institutions in the United States. Its 79 acres contain Henry Shaw's original 1850 Estate House, a Japanese garden, the second-largest herbarium in the country, containing 6.6 million specimens (New York's Botanical Gardens is first), and the world's first geodesic dome greenhouse, built in 1960.

The garden is open from 9 AM to 4 PM daily. Cost of admission is $12.00 for adults and free for children 12 and under.

Michigan 4-H Children's Garden

 The Michigan 4-H Children's Garden is located on the campus of Michigan State University.  It opened in 1993, as one of five gardens that are part of the Michigan State University Horticulture Demonstration Gardens.

 

The children's garden covers about half an acre, and it features 30 different play areas.  These include a dinosaur garden, a pizza garden, a Peter Rabbit garden, an ABC Kindergarten garden, a Teddy Bear and Animal garden, a Storybook garden, and an Alice in Wonderland Maze which leads to a secret garden.

  Some of the fun things kids can do are find lambs ear and feel the leaves, smell chocolate mint, dance on dance chimes, and cross over the Monet bridge.
 The garden is open Monday through Friday from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free, but parking is $3.00 for 1 1/2 hours or $5.00 for 3 hours.

Before I go, I would like to share my SCBWI Book Stop page. There's a contest to see who can get the most likes and comments. If you feel inspired, please stop by to like the page and comment. Thanks!  Click on this link.

Longwood Gardens

 Longwood Gardens, located about 30 miles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a gorgeous collection of flowers situated on 1077 acres of land.  (Only 325 acres are open to the public.)  There are twenty indoor gardens, housed in a conservatory which contains 5,500 types of plants.  There are also 20 outdoor gardens featuring exquisite flowers, trees, and dazzling fountains.



Longwood Gardens has a very rich history.  Over two hundred years ago, the land was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Indians.  In 1700, a Quaker family purchased the property from William Penn (the guy Pennsylvania is named after) and established a farm there.  In 1906, Pierre du Pont, the famous industrialist, purchased the property and created what is enjoyed today.  In 1946, the Gardens were turned over to a foundation set up by Mr. du Pont.

  

One of the gardens is the Bee-aMazed children's garden.  It features a tree house, a Honeycomb Maze, Flower fountain, and Buzz Trail.  Kids can learn about bees and the various parts of a flower through these interactive features.



The Gardens are open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.  Admission for adults is $18.00.  Admission for children is $8.00.

Here's where I am on this last day of my blog tour:

At Crystal's Book Reviews where you can read an excerpt and enter for the giveaway.

At Mason Canyon's Blog with a book review and a chance to win a copy of the book.  (Mason Canyon organized my tour. She did a really nice job! If you are an author and don't have the time to organize your own blog tour, I recommend her services. Also, she is celebrating her nine-year blogversary. so please stop by and congratulate her.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

 The Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens are located in Richmond, Virginia.  These gardens are simply amazing.  In fact, they are the winner of the 2011 National Medal for Museum and Library service.

  The history of the gardens is interesting.  They are on property that was once the hunting grounds for the Powhatan Indians.  The land was also owned by Patrick Henry.  In 1884, Lewis Ginter purchased the land.  In 1913, Ginter's niece, Grace Arents, developed gardens on the property.  It was her desire that when she and her partner died, the land be given to the city of Richmond to be developed as botanical gardens, honoring Lewis Ginter.  In 1968, the city took over the property, but the gardens didn't come to fruition until 1981.

The children's garden is one of the best I've seen.  There are about eight different areas where children can learn about the natural world.  One neat feature is the International Village.  There are playhouses and plants that represent cultures from all over the world.  There's a "tukal" African shelter, a Latin American "casista," and a Native American longhouse.  There's also an Asian teahouse and an "everyone's house," where kids can design their own place.

 

 The Farm Garden consists of six 20 x 20 plots where kids can plant and harvest their own vegetables and fruit.

Other features include the water play area, a bird and butterfly meadow, a super-fun tree house, a children's greenhouse, and a section of weird and contrasting plants.  The gardens are open daily from 9 am-5 pm.  Admission is $11.00 for adults, and $7.00 for children.

 

In other news, my book tour for Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China continues. Here are the stops from this week:

Book Review at J. Bronder Book Reviews

Guest post about doing school author visits at Writers and Authors Blog

Opportunity to enter a win a copy of my book:  Celtic Lady Reviews

Interview at Literary Rambles

Leila Arboretum

Leila Arboretum is located in Battlecreek, Michigan.  It's a place with a lot of history!  Battlecreek is known as "cereal city" because cereal was first invented there by Dr. Kellogg in 1894.  The Leila Arboretum dates back to 1922, when Leila Post Montgomery, wife of the big cereal businessman, C. W. Post (of Post cereal), donated 72 acres of land to the city.  In 1924, landscape architect, T. Clifton Shepherd, designed the gardens.

 

There is a wonderful one-acre children's garden that you'll want to visit, if you have kids.  It features five different sections.  The first is the Healthy Me garden.  It has a big red bowl filled with various salad vegetables.  A huge spoon and fork stick up out of the bowl.  There are also four mini gardens surrounding the bowl:  a pizza garden, a spa garden (growing in a bathtub), a top 10 veggies garden, and an healing herb garden.



There's a Cereal Bowl garden that tells all about the history of the city, and how cereal is made.  The Four Winds garden was designed by local Potawatomi Indians, and it gives the Indians' plant and color representations of the four directions, North, South, East, and West.  One of the most popular features is the Rain and Shine Friends/ABC garden.  It features a giant balloon (pictured above) where kids can step inside and pretend that they're soaring over the gardens.  There's also a feature where kids can be a human sundial.  I really like the ABC garden.  There are plants for every letter of the alphabet.  Finally, there's a Cupola Science Plaza where kids can learn about how plants contribute to science.

 Leila Arboretum is open daily from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.

Before I go, I'd like to let you know that my blog tour is continuing. I'm at Julie Flander's blog. Please stop by to read an excerpt from my book, Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China and enter to win a copy.