Top Spots To See Spring Wildflowers In Metro Detroit

Each spring, after a long and arduous winter, Detroiters are anxious to get the warm weather and plant life back into full bloom. Many Motown residents are big fans of the beautiful flowers here in Michigan, such as the many wildflowers that return after the cold season. So if it's your wish to get out and see the flowers in some of the most pristine settings in Metro Detroit, here's a list that you cannot ignore.

University Of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens
1800 N. Dixboro Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 647-7600
www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg

For over 100 years, the Matthaei Botanical Gardens at the University of Michigan have been one of Ann Arbor's most incredible and awe-inspiring locations for both flower lovers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Free and open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, these gardens are considered one of the top in the state, tended carefully by the specialized hands of the University of Michigan's top keepers. Each spring, there is a number of small gatherings and get-togethers for locals to come and watch the flowers bloom.

Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory
Belle Isle
876 Picnic Way
Detroit, MI 48207
(313) 821-5428
belleisleconservancy.org

For many years, Belle Isle wasn't much more than an island out in the Detroit River off of the city's downtown that residents once in a while headed out to for a walk or a picnic. These days, Belle Isle is hopping and alive with the city's resurgence and is filled with fun activities for people of all ages, including the return of the summer racing series, the very popular and historic Belle Isle Aquarium, music festivals and of course, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, which houses an incredible number of beautiful plants and flowers that Detroiters love checking out each spring.

Cranbrook House And Gardens
380 Lone Pine Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
(248) 645-3147
housegardens.cranbrook.edu

On the grounds of one of Metro Detroit's oldest mansions and manors is the Cranbrook House and Gardens, which has been a pride of the Detroit area for over 100 years. Originally the home of one of Detroit's most historic and prosperous families, the Booths, the Cranbrook House and Gardens is now one of the Motor City's best locations to check out the wildflowers blooming each spring. The venue even started the Wildflower Rescue Program in 1975 to make sure that some of the world's rarest and most stunning flowers never disappeared from Michigan's landscape.

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Historic Henry Ford Estates 
1100 Lake Shore Road
Grosse Pointe Shores, MI 48236
(313) 884-4222
www.henryfordestate.org

There is perhaps no entrepreneur more famous in the Detroit area than Henry Ford, who helped put the Motor City on the map and build it into what it has become today. Ford also had one of the most lavish homes in Detroit and one of the most bountiful gardens to go along with it. The homes of the historic Ford family are now parts of estates and museums for residents to come and visit, and the Henry Ford home in Gross Pointe Shores has a garden of spectacular wildflowers that enthusiasts should see each spring. The extensive grounds are home to a number of fine plants and flowers visitors are sure to love.

University Of Michigan Nichols Arboretum
1610 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 647-7600
www.lsa.umich.edu

Known affectionately as "the Arb" by Ann Arborites and locals, the Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan is a separate location from the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, but remains just as beautiful for what it can offer to wildflower enthusiasts each spring. The Arboretum specializes in some of the most unique flowers species in Michigan and the Midwest and even offers a "bloom calendar" on the website so visitors to the Arb can know ahead of time what they might see springing from the ground each season. If it's wildflowers that you seek, the Art has what you want this spring.

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Michael Ferro is freelance writer and a graduate of Michigan State University where he majored in Creative Writing and received the Jim Cash Creative Writing Award. Born and bred in Detroit, he currently resides in Ypsilanti Township. Additional writing can be found at Examiner.com.