Entry Garden & Native Plant Garden

Two gardens welcome visitors as they leave their cars and approach the Mary Plym Visitors Center: a lovely display of shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses at the entrance to the building and the Native Plant Garden nearby.

The Native Plant Garden displays plants that are native to sunny or partly sunny habitats in the Michiana Region of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. A crushed stone path meanders through the garden, providinig access to the three habitats featured: dry prairie, wet prairie, and oak savanna. A gazebo and other rustic structures by artist Bim Willow complement the naturalistic garden design. The Native Plant Garden is a memorial to Fernwood volunteer Kathy Sehy.

Bauer Terrace

Leaving the south side of the Visitors Center, guests step onto the Bauer Terrace. Tables and chairs provide a place to sit and enjoy lunch, with a vine covered arbor providing shade on warm summer days. Just ahead is a small, maze-like water garden, consisting of boxwood hedges separated by water “paths.” On either side lie beds of shrubs, perennials, annuals, and vines that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. At the far end of the terrace, an attractive gazebo provides a panoramic view of the South Vista garden.

South Vista

Visitors access the South Vista Gardens via a wheel chair ramp or stairway from the Bauer Terrace. A lawn occupies the center of the area, and a paved path follows its perimeter. In the summer, beds of new and unique annual flowers grace the path in colorful displays. A twig gazebo in the southwest corner provides a place to rest, near a butterfly larvae garden and a new ornamental grass garden.

Just below the Bauer Terrace, near the base of the stairway, is a garden pond and waterfall. A small stream flows along the east edge of the Gardens, into a naturalistic pond where frogs, turtles, and other water creatures can be seen.

Discovery Garden

Future site of the Paul Busse-designed railroad garden, coming in Summer 2009.

Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden takes visitors out of their own culture and lets them explore another. Funded by the Niles Garden Club, the garden was designed by Mr. Ben Oki and completed in 1979.

The garden is a variation of a Japanese "dry garden." Gravel represents water and is raked to imitate the flow of the water. Benches around the edge of the garden can be used for sitting, meditating, and pondering the shapes, forms, and colors in the garden. Many of the forms are symbols. For example, the two islands in the gravel represent the "turtle" and the "crane," both of which symbolize longevity.

The Japanese people are very devoted to nature. Their gardens are works of art: different people can interpret them in different ways. Mr. Oki, in keeping with this tradition, designed the garden to leave room for the imagination of visitors.

Memorial Garden

Part of an 11-acre addition to Fernwood in 1975, this garden has been divided into several smaller planting areas. It is being renovated over the next few years. Bordering the garden are several handsome specimens of European beech including the fern-leafed and tricolor varieties.

Moore Woodlot

Separating the north and south gardens, the Moore Woodlot reflects the balance between gardens and natural areas at Fernwood. In early spring it sparkles with large, colorful drifts of aconites, grape hyacinths, and other bulbs. As summer approaches, these give way to various shade-tolerant native plants that have been allowed to naturalize here.

Hosta Bowl

Next to the Moore Woodlot, visitors are greeted by a winding, shady pathway through a grove of trees. This area changes dramatically during the year, showing how one can combine bulbs with other plants to create gardens with multi-season interest. In early spring the garden is ablaze with aconites and then with daffodils. Later, when these have gone dormant for the year, visitors enjoy a fine collection of hostas. In August a stunning display of hardy amaryllis appears as if from nowhere. Finally, in autumn, the turning leaves provide a final show of color, along with autumn crocus and colchicums.

Bordering the Hosta Bowl are several special trees, including two "living fossils," the dawn redwood and ginkgo.

Ravine Garden

On their first visit to what is now Fernwood, Kay and Walter Boyston saw the possibilities for developing the former owner's "dump." Although overgrown with tall weeds, the spot had all the ingredients needed for a rock garden: a variety of slopes, dry and wet spots, pools, rills, and ever-flowing springs–everything except the rocks.

Development of the garden began in the 1950s. From 1958 to 1966 the Boystons supervised the placement of several tons of tufa rock. These rocks formed the foundation and outcrops of the garden, providing pockets and crevices for the planting of Kay's favorite miniature and dwarf plants.

Today the former "dump" abounds with plants native to many parts of the world and from many different habitats. Although beautiful any time of the year, the garden shines in the spring when the primroses and many of the miniatures bloom.

Winter House

Originally a caretaker's cottage, this building was used by the Boydston's for their winter residence. A display of hellebores grows outside the building and a variety of miniature flowering plants are tucked in the nooks and crannies of the retaining wall on the lawn. Many interesting perennials grow along the edge of the woods between the Winter House and the Ravine Garden.

Fern Garden

While many gardens incorporate ferns as accent plants, this garden uses other plants to accent the ferns. All of the more then 50 types of ferns planted here are hardy to Zone 5 and are available commercially for home gardeners.

Summer House

Originally used as a seasonal residence by the Boydstons, this charming cottage is a popular place for meetings, receptions, and other gatherings. The plantings around the building include a shady perennial border that was a tennis court in times past, the Wildflower Garden, the Boxwood Garden, and the Fern Hardiness Test Garden. The latter is part of a national program of the Hardy Fern Society, to evaluate fern species and cultivars for their usefulness in cold-climate gardens.

Wildflower Garden

Adjacent to the Summer House, the wildflower garden features woodland plants native to the Michiana area. Displays of spring wildflowers give way to foliage and ferns in the summer months.

Boxwood Garden

Originally a collection of small shrubs recommended for landscape use, this garden includes a border of 'Grand Rapids' and 'Handsworthy' boxwoods. The entrance features a cedar gazebo marked with motifs of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Inside, beds of shade-tolerant groundcovers border the boxwood hedge. A sitting bench allows visitors to pause and enjoy the intimacy and serenity this spot provides. A flagstone patio marks the center of the garden, flanked by gates that invite exploration of what lies beyond.

Emma Watson Lilac Garden

In the 1930s Emma Watson began to collect lilacs for her beautiful home garden near Fernwood. After the Boydstons moved to Fernwood in the 1940s they were offered the opportunity to dig suckers from Ms. Watson's lilacs. Kay Boydston nursed single sticks planted far apart, visualizing a distant future of beautiful spring blooms and fragrance. Many of these plants persist to this day, much to the delight of visitors.

Weir Lily Pond

Adjacent to the Emma Watson Lilac Garden is the Weir Lily Pond, constructed in 1977. A unique feature of this garden is a sunken walkway on the north side, which allows children to enjoy the pond’s frogs without danger of falling in. Water lilies and perennials provide color in summer, while a bench offers a place to pause and enjoy this tranquil setting. The pond is a memorial to Richard Weir, given by his family and friends.

North Vista

The North Vista features a series of naturalistic plantings and gardens that complement the adjacent woodlands. Perennials bloom from spring through fall and grasses provide texture and color in all four seasons. Handsome specimens of European beech, katsura tree, and Norway spruce border the path that winds through this area.

Meeting House

Originally Fernwood's first Visitor's Center, the Meeting House now serves as a gathering place for programs and events as well as the background for Fernwood's new rain garden. This attractive demonstration planting filters storm water collected from the roof of the building. A collection of daylilies borders the south end of this garden.

Sims Border

Named for Mac and Joanne Sims who made this garden possible, the Sims Border is located along the paved path between the Herb Garden and Hosta Bowl. This cottage style garden of sun-loving perennials and ornamental grasses provides texture, color, and interest throughout the growing season.

Herb and Sensory Garden

The Stan Beikmann Herb and Sensory Garden was designed to engage visitors' senses and inform them about the many uses of herbs, present and past. More than 200 kinds of herbs are displayed in an adapted English design. Occupying the center of the garden is a stone dovecote, a traditional garden structure. The various beds feature plants used for seasonings, spices, teas, dyecloth, insect repellents and much more. This garden also includes a sensory trail with beds that appeal to our senses of smell, taste, sight, touch, and sound.