Monday, April 12, 2010

The Peace of Nature

Even before I had kids, I loved to visit botanical gardens.  There's something about the flowers and trees and pure feeling of nature that puts me at ease.  Although my kids love to visit them now, too, sometimes I still go alone, on days that I need the peace sitting among the palms and blossoms brings me.

photo credit:  mbaylor
When I was pregnant with my first son, my husband surprised me with a trip to the Mitchell Park Conservatory in Milwaukee.  As a recent transplant to the bitter cold of Green Bay, WI, a visit to the domes took me worlds away and help ease the "I'm pregnant and living in an icebox" feeling that consumed me.

After we moved, we continued to visit Botanical gardens in different places.  Some, naturally, are spectacular and others are smaller and more, ummm, cozy.  But even the little guys exude the peace of nature; I think all of us can use that from time to time, don't you?

Here's a link  (and another) to some gardens in the Midwest.  I've found that many have reciprocal privileges for members--either allowing free entrance or a discount at their location, which makes membership really worth the price.

Do you have a favorite that we could visit when we're passing through?

3 comments:

Heather said...

The conservatory at Como Zoo in Minneapolis is really beautiful. I enjoyed it emmensely when we went (3 years ago!). I'd love to go again soon.

Midwest Mom said...

We love botanic gardens, especially because we garden with our kids at home. They love to explore them, and we love to see what wonderful things can be done with plants in our climate zone.

Two botanic gardens we love to visit as a family are the Chicago Botanic garden and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. If you're in or near one of those cities, it's definitely worth the trip.

- Julia at Midwest Moms

Heather T said...

We just joined the botanical gardens in Ann Arbor last weekend. We just kept thinking, there are some really good advantages to living in a small town that has a great Research I university to bring things like this to the community and make them available. Here's their website: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/ The visit is well worth the effort of getting there (both to the arboretum and to the botanical gardens)!