Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve
Encyclopedia
The Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve, 105 acres (42.5 ha), is an arboretum
, botanical garden
, and nature preserve located at 13988 Range Line Road in Buchanan Township, Michigan. It is open to the public daily Tuesday through Saturday plus Sunday afternoons. An admission fee is charged.
The Garden is located on the St. Joseph River
and contains landscape gardens (8 acres), woodland nature preserve (50 acres), an arboretum of trees and shrubs from temperate regions around the world (40 acres, started in 1971), and restored tallgrass prairie
(5 acres, started in 1976), as well as a conservatory (greenhouse)
featuring more than 100 kinds of tropical fern
s.
The landscape gardens include a Japanese "dry" garden designed by Mr. Ben Oki (1979), a hosta
garden with dawn redwood
and Ginkgo, a tufa rock garden started in the 1950s, a fern garden with more than 50 types of hardy ferns, a boxwood
garden, a lilac
garden (1940s), a lily pond
(1977), and an herb
garden featuring over 200 types of herbs.
Fernwood originally began as the home of Kay and Walter Boydston, who purchased its first 12.5 acres (50,585.8 m²) in 1941, and became a public garden in 1964 through the efforts of Lawrence and Mary Plym. Additional land purchases have increased the site to 105 acres (42.5 ha), providing space for the arboretum, prairie restoration, and newer gardens.
The nature center displays exhibits about the ecosystems and animals of Fernwood and items of seasonal interest, as well as live animals including an active beehive and local reptiles and amphibians. Environmental education programs are offered year round.
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
, botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
, and nature preserve located at 13988 Range Line Road in Buchanan Township, Michigan. It is open to the public daily Tuesday through Saturday plus Sunday afternoons. An admission fee is charged.
The Garden is located on the St. Joseph River
St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)
The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan...
and contains landscape gardens (8 acres), woodland nature preserve (50 acres), an arboretum of trees and shrubs from temperate regions around the world (40 acres, started in 1971), and restored tallgrass prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
(5 acres, started in 1976), as well as a conservatory (greenhouse)
Conservatory (greenhouse)
A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...
featuring more than 100 kinds of tropical fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s.
The landscape gardens include a Japanese "dry" garden designed by Mr. Ben Oki (1979), a hosta
Hosta
Hosta is a genus of about 23–45 species of lily-like plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, native to northeast Asia. They have been placed in their own family, Hostaceae ; like many 'lilioid monocots', they were once classified in the Liliaceae...
garden with dawn redwood
Metasequoia
Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...
and Ginkgo, a tufa rock garden started in the 1950s, a fern garden with more than 50 types of hardy ferns, a boxwood
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
garden, a lilac
Lilac
Syringa is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering woody plants in the olive family , native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in temperate areas elsewhere....
garden (1940s), a lily pond
Pond
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
(1977), and an herb
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
garden featuring over 200 types of herbs.
Fernwood originally began as the home of Kay and Walter Boydston, who purchased its first 12.5 acres (50,585.8 m²) in 1941, and became a public garden in 1964 through the efforts of Lawrence and Mary Plym. Additional land purchases have increased the site to 105 acres (42.5 ha), providing space for the arboretum, prairie restoration, and newer gardens.
The nature center displays exhibits about the ecosystems and animals of Fernwood and items of seasonal interest, as well as live animals including an active beehive and local reptiles and amphibians. Environmental education programs are offered year round.