Discover Meijer Gardens
Discover Meijer Gardens
Always Growing. Always Beautiful. Always New.
It’s not just the masterpieces of art and nature that delight your senses. Or the surprising silhouettes and endless kaleidoscope of colors and textures that inspire you most. It’s the one, brief, shining moment of clarity about what matters most to you that will bring you back time after time.
Tours, programs and interactive activities are available for visitors throughout the year. Discovery carts are made available periodically so visitors can handle sculptors’ tools and materials, learn about plants in new ways and have hands-on experiences. Printed looking guides lead visitors through changing exhibitions with thought-provoking questions, exhibition overviews and specific things to find. Free public programs for sculpture exhibitions assist visitors in understanding content and ideas through lectures, gallery walks, family activities, DVDs and demonstrations. Check the digital display sign at the admissions desk when you arrive for the day’s activities.
Sculpture Collection & Exhibitions
Ranked in the top 100 most-visited art museums worldwide by Art Newspaper, the leading publication in global art news, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has grown to become an international destination. The sculpture program features more than 200 works in the permanent collection sited both indoors and outdoors on the 158-acre main campus.
The permanent collection focuses on works by established and emerging sculptors from the Modern tradition to the present. Earliest works date to the second half of the 19th century with masters such as Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belluese, Edgar Degas, and Auguste Rodin. Starting with these masters, the comprehensive presentation includes sculptors from the late 19th century to the present.
Three temporary exhibitions are also developed annually, most curated by and for Meijer Gardens. These special exhibitions are shown within the large indoor galleries and associated indoor and outdoor spaces. The sculpture exhibition program is dedicated to sculpture traditions of all periods and exhibitions have ranged from large-scale presentations of modern masters such as Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, and Henry Moore to contemporary masters such as Ai Weiwei, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Mark di Suvero, Anthony Caro, and Richard Hunt.
Sculpture Collection
The Sculpture Park features significant works of art within a variety of natural settings connected by waterways, meandering paths, lawns, meadows and quiet walkways. Within the Sculpture Park's 30 acres is one of the most comprehensive collections of outdoor sculpture in the world.
Past Sculpture Exhibitions
Three temporary sculpture exhibitions are developed annually, most curated by and for Meijer Gardens. These special exhibitions are shown within the large indoor galleries and associated indoor and outdoor spaces. The sculpture exhibition program is dedicated to sculpture traditions of all periods and exhibitions have ranged from large-scale presentations of modern masters such as Rodin, Picasso, and Moore to contemporary masters such as George Segal, Oldenburg and van Bruggen, di Suvero, Caro, and Richard Hunt.
Horticulture
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park integrates the experience of striking gardens with fine art. The emphasis is on horticultural displays showcasing a beautiful array of plants appropriate for the Midwest and specialized plants from regions around the world. Presentation ranges from planned and manicured to natural and native.
Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory
Within the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory over 500 species from five continents are displayed in a lush, verdant setting including waterfalls, streams and bridges, as well as varieties of tropical birds.
Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden
Stroll through the Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden to enjoy plants selected that perform best in shady conditions and tolerate heavy, clay soils. Chosen plants provide year-round interest.
Kenneth E. Nelson Carnivorous Plant House
The Kenneth E. Nelson Carnivorous Plant House is the only publicly displayed plant collection in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to carnivorous plants.
Earl and Donnalee Holton Arid Garden
The Earl and Donnalee Holton Arid Garden is host to a large variety of plants specially adapted to survive in some of the driest environments in the world including the Americas, Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Grace Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse
The Grace Jarecki Seasonal Display Greenhouse is always fresh, featuring a new garden design with each season.
Earl and Donnalee Holton Victorian Garden Parlor
Stroll into the Earl and Donnalee Holton Victorian Garden Parlor and relax on ornate furniture among plants used in classic Victorian garden parlors during the turn of the last century.
Amphitheater Garden
Home of the Fifth Third Bank Summer Concerts at Meijer Gardens and Tuesday Evening Music Club, the Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater, a garden in its own right, features manicured terraced lawn seating, trees, perennials, bold tropical exotics as well as sculptures by Michele Oka Doner, Sean Henry, Barry Flanagan and Igor Mitoraj.
The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden
Tranquility, simplicity and beauty are the very essence of The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden which opened in 2015. One of the most revered and deeply appreciated international garden styles, the 8-acre addition furthers the organization's dual mission of horticulture and sculpture.
Plant Show Series
Serious gardeners and flower fanciers alike will be intrigued by the variety of flowers featured in the yearly Plant Show Series. Local plant societies and hobbyists showcase tropical orchids, bonsai, iris, herbs and more. Many of the shows feature workshops, demonstrations or tours.
Notable Gardens & Exhibitions
The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden
Tranquility, simplicity and beauty are the very essence of The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden which opened in 2015. One of the most revered and deeply appreciated international garden styles, the 8-acre addition furthers the organization's dual mission of horticulture and sculpture.
Lena Meijer Children’s Garden
Let curiosity be the guide in the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden. Children can follow animal tracks, dig for fossils, sit in a giant bird’s nest, solve the butterfly maze or look through the “viewports” to focus on sculpture. Their imaginations will take off in this interactive garden.
Michigan’s Farm Garden
Michigan's Farm Garden focuses on gardening and horticulture as it would have appeared in the 1930's during the Depression era. With heirloom vegetables, flowers and orchard, reminiscent of that time period guests get an understanding of farms when they were truly self-sufficient.
Butterflies Are Blooming
This temporary, annual exhibition features thousands of tropical butterflies from Central and South America, Africa and Asia freely flying in the Tropical Conservatory. From March 1 through April 30, experience butterflies close up and watch them emerge from their chrysalises right before your eyes.
Holiday Exhibition
A marvelous exhibition beginning in November and running through the entire month of December and part of January each year. It includes 42 trees and cultural displays, nearly 400,000 colorful lights both indoors and outdoors, choirs, rooftop reindeer, as well as the beloved Railway Garden.
Chrysanthemums and More!
Highlights thousands of flowering chrysanthemums and their local connections to West Michigan in both interior and exterior venues. Vertical columns of colorful chrysanthemums, a vibrant wall of chrysanthemums, chrysanthemum spheres, and beds of colorful plants delight visitors. The largest display of its kind in Michigan.
Music
Summer Concerts
This concert series brings the finest national and international musicians to West Michigan, thrilling music lovers across all genres and all generations.
Tuesday Evening Music Club
Included with admission, each Tuesday evening in July and August, the Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater hosts local talent in a variety of musical genres. Bring a picnic or choose from fresh fare at the concession counter.