Butterflies & More at Meijer Gardens ~ 4/14/15

The butterflies have been in full display at the Gardens and I was tempted to stop in last week, until I remembered it was spring break. Today it was beautifully in the 60s and sunny so I ventured forth. The parking lot was crowded and school buses are never a good sign for anyone who wants a tranquil visit.

But it wasn't bad by lunch time. School groups were present but were outside and easily avoided by changing my route :-) As always, the Garden routes people through the cacti and other indoor garden rooms before you can visit the butterflies.

Visitors are challenged to find the Monarch Butterfly caterpillars.

In the same room, goofing around with mirrors, just because :-)

After finally arriving in the steamy hot butterfly exhibit, I found a few butterflies still enough to get a shot but was more annoyed by people than butterflies on the move.

There was a beautiful Common Morpho posing on a nearby wall and I waited my turn to get a photo but this particular photographer was not budging. So I walked away and went through the rest of the exhibit. Twenty minutes later I went back and he was still there. Photo hog. And just then, another Morpho came by and the two of them flew away. And the photographer had the nerve to whine about it. But by that time I was done. On to the outdoors, where the tram is back.

Crocus, Daffodils, and Helleborus were wonderful to see.

A walk around the Groves is always lovely and today was no exception.

Here's the view from Male/Female.

The wetlands walk is always a favorite and is still a bit arid, winter moving into spring.

There are always people hanging out at the horse, because it's awesome.

Kids like to run down the hill, and play in fountains.

Getting a sneak peak at a new exhibit gave me these photos but no information, until today.

Mlive disclosed today that this was "Iron Tree" by the famous artist, Ai Weiwei, under house arrest in China, an artist who was made known to many Americans by the 2012 documentary "Never Sorry." Just wow. The exhibit opened today, 4/20, and I can't wait to go back for a closer look. In the meantime, we are all still waiting for brown to turn green.

And we're also waiting for the grand opening of the Japanese Garden, which is getting close now. Lots of work is going on.

The stage is empty right now and tickets sales open for members this Saturday. You know the routine. Wait for hours in person at the Gardens, or sweat it out online or by phone to get the hottest selling tickets that will be gone in 15 minutes. For non-members? More than half of the concerts will be sold out before you even have a chance. Good luck to you all ~ I'm already breaking out in a sweat.

Butterflies & Geese Video

 

Meijer Gardens - 4/25/13

The weather was cool and windy, it was a Thursday, and the butterfly exhibit was a few days away from closing so I'm thinking no one will be there and I can enjoy a peaceful walk. Wrong. The parking lot gave me my first clue, packed and full of buses. I ignored the clues and entered the mayhem.

The butterfly exhibit was still pretty active, with butterflies and people. And the humidity was incredibly high, more than I remember. People clogging walkways and camera lenses fogging up drove me out after about 10 minutes.

The boardwalk was cool relief from the crowds and, as elsewhere in Grand Rapids,
showed very high water.

I continued to walk the outdoor paths and ended up behind this snail's paced tram that sometimes moved slower than me, and other times faster. I couldn't shake it and finally turned around.

The Woodland Garden is always a favorite,

and I've never met another person on the walk around the pond.

 Circling on back around, a sky view of the arch, 

Scarlatti, with a close-up of what looks like graffiti but is probably weathering,

On the way out, I stopped in at the indoor exhibit of sculpture by Hanneke Beaumont.

Very cool work but no photos permitted as per usual. But here's one from the butterfly exhibit.

Before I left, I checked out the new Japanese Garden being built

and enjoyed the bit of spring on the way out.

4/27/13 Update: How do concert tickets sell out in 15 minutes?  Something is not right, and good luck to non-members a few weeks from now who would like tickets to the most popular shows. On the average, 50% of summer concert tickets are sold out before they are offered to the public. Just so you know...