Great Garden Plants in the Great Lakes State
Last week, I spent three days driving across the state of Michigan for the 2016 Garden Plant Tour.
My whirlwind trip took me to C. Raker & Sons (Litchfield), Michigan State University (East Lansing), Four Star Greenhouse (Carleton), Mast Young Plants (Walker/Grand Rapids) and Walters Gardens (Zeeland).
The temperatures were in the nineties all three days, so it was really good to see how the plants stood up to the August heat because it was hot! Most of the plants held up a lot better than I did — I’m just glad I remembered my sunscreen and kept myself hydrated.
The Michigan Garden Plant Tour is an excellent opportunity for growers, retailers and landscapers to see how many different annuals and perennials perform in different locations and conditions —in the ground, containers and hanging baskets.
Raker and Mast both do comparison trials so visitors can see how some of the newest varieties stand up to their competition. Several of the locations are also All-America Selections trial sites.
The Garden Plant Tour is a chance to be inspired. The staffs at all of the locations really do an amazing job creating beautiful flower beds and different types of displays that show many of the different plant varieties “in action.”
The creativity, color and cool factor can be a plant lover’s … and a photographer’s … nirvana.
Congratulations to everyone involved. I can’t wait to see what each company has planned for next year.
By the way, I posted some photos from my trip on the GPN Facebook page. Click here to check them out.
Also on the GPN Facebook page, you will find some photos from Ball Customer Day that took place on July 29, in West Chicago, Illinois. The Ball Gardens also looked amazing that morning; however, Mother Nature decided she need to show everyone who was the boss that day with quite the downpour in the afternoon.
Video Library 
Latest News
Brandt adds to leadership team
EHR grows national sales team
