The MSU Extension Grand Ideas Garden welcomes visitors for another year to help give landscaping and gardening ideas for your own yards.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s gardening season in West Michigan!
For some, that could bring stress and uncertainty on what to do with your gardening space, or what flowers to plant.
The MSU Extension Grand Ideas Garden (GIG) is open for another year to give West Michigan residents ideas for their gardens.
The GIG was originally “planted” in 2003, but it keeps growing!
There are hundreds of different annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs and vegetables that you can go visit and see for free.
The garden is open to the public and ran by volunteers in the community.
Their colorful signage and planting displays help their guests learn about gardening techniques that they can replicate in their own yards.
The GIG also responds to disease or insect outbreaks by treating them as a learning opportunity. It’s a garden for trial and error, and education.
Guests learn earth-friendly practices while enjoying the many plants and sceneries throughout the space.
Around 6,000 people visit the garden each year and 96% of them say they go buy annual or perennial flowers at their local nurseries after seeing the GIG.
Of those visitors, 76% read the signage on the plants so they can take note of their favorite flowers or shrubs and go find them in another location to buy for their own yards.
Many who visit learn new ways of gardening and keeping their gardens fresh and bright.
“The whole thing in my perspective is it’s an education garden but the reason it’s called an idea garden is people from all over the place come here just to look at plants and plant combination ideas. Whether it’s for pavers, benches, gardens or no deer gardens, those kinds of things,” Rebecca Finneran, the GIG’s Director, said.
Finneran says the GIG is big on keeping the garden up to date throughout the year so visitors can get current ideas for their gardens.
It’s not a collector’s garden, Finneran says, but rather they display common plants and how they could possibly look in their own yards.
There is no cost to attend the GIG and Finneran also encourages people to come on out to just enjoy the scenery and perhaps even enjoy a picnic there.
