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Positively Perennial The Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden
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Three years in the making, it has become the most horticulturally diverse area within our 158 acres. The Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden reopens July 1, with a modern twist on the classic design. Discover it this summer!
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It’s a love letter to English gardeners everywhere—the product of a plum partnership with internationally renowned landscape architects and horticulturalists, and our own Horticulture and Sculpture teams. Together, we reimagined our beloved Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden into a fresh space, honoring the cherished original while inspiring a modern experience that’s distinctively Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
A study in planned chaos, the sprawling Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden has an abounding energy. Like none other, it embodies our brand promise to be Always Growing. Always Beautiful. Always New. Impressive inside and out, the space is a four-season showstopper. Upon approaching the Welcome Center, lowprofile walls offer a first glimpse of the garden that’s carried through in the Garden Pavilion corner windows and the BISSELL Corridor wall of windows. Even the views from the Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater are spectacular.
Like rooms within rooms, each area within the accessible landscape begs discovery. The horticultural diversity is unrivaled at Meijer Gardens, with an incredible 519 different plant types—388 perennials, 114 shrubs, 17 trees—and 6,000 individual plantings, not counting the abundance of plugs and bulbs.
The Conversation Garden offers a peaceful entrance into the perennial playground. In a nod to traditional English design, a curving yew hedge flanks the winding path leading to the refreshed Leaping Gazelle fountain, by Marshall Fredericks ← FIG. 1. This lively sculpture anchors the intimate space and has been refined with a granite seat wall and black concrete base, reflecting the modern architecture of the Welcome Center while responding to the surrounding solstice walls. Like a warm embrace, a semicircular exedra bench curves around the fountain to beckon both conversation and quiet contemplation. This one-of-a-kind seat, commissioned for Meijer Gardens, was handmade from reclaimed ash that has been thermally treated to resist rot and insects. Installed last winter, the bench will continue to gray as it weathers. Take a seat and take in the subtly sweet aromas of fringe trees in summer bloom.
Meander the circular walkway to encounter Balustrade, by Monika Sosnowska ← FIG. 2. Known for her curious interpretations of common architectural elements like fire escapes and railings, this up-and-coming artist imagines a banister twisted into an energetic form. It is nestled between two special trees, both saved from previous construction sites, and carefully transplanted in place with a truck-mounted, 90-inch spade. Like its sculptural counterpart, these trees make a stunning statement, punctuating the perennial beds and echoing back to other like-trees layered throughout our greater grounds.
Mchael Moran
Continue on the pathway to the elevated granite terrace, overlooking the entire English Perennial Garden. Stop to admire Mimi’s Garden (above), a two-story sunken space that floods the Courtyard Level with natural light and views of azaleas and native Michigan pawpaws and redbuds. The expansive covered porch is accented by rooftop cutouts, a distinctive stone pattern on the primary wall and Holding Pattern, by Kenneth Snelson ← FIG. 3. This granite form is a gift from the artist and a diversion from his B-Tree II, which graces our main entrance. Intrigued by science, math and engineering, Snelson explores the power of tension in his work. Drawing inspiration from an atom, Holding Pattern celebrates the interplay of layered forms and shapes.
Water is the lifeblood of any garden, and the stone rill in the Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden is another Meijer Gardens first. Though many rills are sunken, this raised granite water table features a narrow pool that continuously spills over the edge, adding a layer of vibrancy, movement and sound while aesthetically separating the Stone Court from the Balk Square—the lush central lawn. This grassy area is surrounded by plantings that speak to the rill, among them showy perennials like iris, liatris, primrose and sanguisorba.
Special Lecture Event: Celebrating the Tassell-Wisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden
Tuesday, September 13, 7 pm Julie Moir Messervy
Join us for this special lecture event with Julie Moir Messervy. Julie is the founder and principle designer of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio, who partnered with Meijer Gardens to reimagine the English Perennial Garden design. Learn first hand how Julie's vision for composing landscapes of beauty and meaning was artfully realized in her collaboration with Meijer Gardens.
Top: Monika Sosnowska. Balustrade, 2015. Steel, paint, PVC. Monika Sosnowska
Middle: Peter Randall-Page. Warts and All, 2006. Stone and wood timbers. William Hebert
Bottom: Dietrich Klinge. Model for a Big Sculpture II (detail), 2006. Bronze. William Hebert Beyond the Balk Square lies the quintessentially Tudor-style Knot Garden, with winding boxwood path, captivating topiaries, and vivid red, orange, and lavender perennials—a modern take on the traditional English design. The adjacent Cherry Tree Allée is a billowy canopy reminiscent of the Cherry Tree Promenade in The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden. These early spring stunners are even illuminated for nighttime strolling. Beneath them, a secret shade garden comes alive with popular perennials such as astilbe (top right), meadow rue, Solomon’s seal (bottom right) and ferns.
In sharp contrast to the tidy Knot Garden is the Wild Meadow. This artful curation of plants rises to greet you—its 300 varieties of perennials boasting three seasons of blooming, punctuated by junipers that stand tall all year long. Sweeps of plentiful prairie-style plantings move in waves and layers, forming an untamed tapestry of color and texture. As you wander, rediscover two sculptures newly sited in this space.
Warts and All, by Peter Randall-Page ← FIG. 4 (middle left), is a bumpy boulder sitting atop two equally massive carved timbers. Our Sculpture team partnered with the artist to replace the aging timbers to preserve the work’s integrity in the harsh West Michigan climate—the timbers even spent last winter outside, to take on a weathered patina. A work that’s been part of our collection, Model for a Big Sculpture II, by Dietrich Klinge ← FIG. 5 (bottom left), finds its permanent site here too.
At the far end of the English Perennial Garden is the Green Cube, a towering woven hedge of pleached hornbeams. This artful pruning involves shearing statuesque trees on two sides to create a flat plane, reflecting the squareness of the Welcome Center and drawing the eye to the sky. Inside this secret space is Pozo XI (in and around the walls) (Version 2), by Cristina Iglesias ← FIG. 6. Acquired for the TassellWisner-Bottrall English Perennial Garden, this organic work incorporates an interpretive carved rock well that’s partly above ground, partly beneath. Sculpted in aluminum and powered by veiled pumps and filters that create flowing water patterns, this wondrous well, like the garden itself, is a cacophony of the senses not to be missed.
We can’t wait to welcome you this summer!
