A few years ago, I learned about a series of quilt gardens in and around Elkhart, Indiana and it’s been on my wish list of destinations since then.
This year, I decided it was finally time to make it happen and scheduled a three-day visit to the Elkhart area in early July when I knew a lot of the blooms would be at their peak. The visit ended up including way more than viewing gardens. I was surprised and impressed by how much there is to do and see in Elkhart - there’s a magnificent art scene, a fabulous food scene, lots of history and music and entertainment and recreation. I’ll dive more in-depth into all of that in another column, but right now I want to tell you about why it’s worth the trip just to see the gardens.
The award-winning Quilt Gardens all appear along or near the Heritage Trail, including vibrant patches of carefully-placed flowers creating beautiful patterns and also super-sized hand-painted quilt murals. Over a million blooming flowers can be found in the gardens. It’s free to view them. There are 15 patterned gardens and 13 mural sites within the communities of Elkhart, Goshen, Middlebury, Nappanee, Bristol and Wakarusa in Elkhart County.
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The gardens and murals are spread around in different spots where there are also other attractions that you’ll likely want to spend time at and work into your itinerary. We didn’t get to all of them, but checked off about a dozen within the time we were there - and I had a few favorites I wanted to share.
In Elkhart, you’ll find a large one in an open grassy area near the St. Joseph River called Central Green and another at the Elkhart County Visitor Center. There were three gardens we visited in Elkhart that turned into longer visits. The Elkhart Environmental Center has a pretty garden on site beside a swampy area where you can hear frogs croaking and walk shady trails through the forest. You’ll pass by some interesting sculptures as you enter the property, too. There’s also an indoor center where you can learn more about nature.
We next went to see the quilt garden at Linton’s Enchanted Gardens. It was lovely and had a little elevated walking bridge that allowed you to get a better view. Then we went on to explore, but only made our way through a fraction of the place. It’s Indiana’s largest Home and Garden Center and there are beautiful display gardens with landscaping accents and a huge showroom and gift shop of interior and seasonal decor, flowers, fashions accessories and other gift items. It also includes a cafe. Outside there’s a lake and Enchanted Railroad that kids will enjoy hopping on to take a ride. You could easily spend a good chunk of a day here. Also visit their website (lintons.com) for info on special events, like cruise ins.
I also paid a visit to Ruthemere, a beautiful mansion that dates back to the early 1900s that can be toured. It was designed in the Beaux Arts Style with Prairie School accents, a three-story structure built of Ohio brick and Indiana limestone that is oozing with exquisite architectural detail. After my tour I stuck around for a gallery talk on artist and Indiana native, Robert Indiana, which was fascinating. It was hosted in the lower level entertainment room as a partnership with the Midwest Museum of Art in Elkhart. The quilt garden sits beyond the yard of the home and beside the mansion’s garden that includes a greenhouse that connects to the home via an underground tunnel so that the homeowners could make their way there in inclement weather without getting rained on.
In Middlebury, we stopped to see the quilt garden at Das Dutchman Essnehaus, which is also a place you could spend a good part of the day. There’s a massive restaurant where you can enjoy an Amish buffet and buy baked goods and gift items, an inn, shops, carriage rides, bike rentals, mini golf and more.
In Nappanee, we stopped at the Nappanee Center to view the garden, which had a platform you could go up with several steps to give you more of a birds-eye view of the garden. We also saw a couple of the murals while we were there.
One spot we didn’t make it to, but that I’ll definitely have to visit another trip is the Krider World’s Fair Gardens in Middlebury. It’s a garden that was constructed and exhibited by Krider Nurseries at the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago in 1933-1934. Some of the plants and structures were reconstructed in Middlebury in 1935.
You can download an app on your phone that will help lead you along the way, urging you to check in at each site and offering additional info. We also pulled up an audio tour of the Heritage Trail that gave a great overview of the area and offered some interesting historical tidbits. For more information on the Quilt Gardens and Heritage Trail, go to visitelkhartcounty.com. You can see the gardens through roughly Sept. 15.