18 | Michiana House and Home | june 2015 |

by teresa nicodemus, house & home feature writer

The 2015 Quilt Gardens tour gives thephrase “take the scenic route” new mean-ing. In a 90-mile route that stretches acrossnorthern Indiana, gardens become blanketsof beauty; marigolds, begonias, and morenod their flowering heads in greeting; and

small-town Indiana welcomes visitors to explore its rural bounty.

The ninth annual Quilt Gardens tour, spon-sored by the Elkhart County Convention andVisitors Bureau, features 19 different gardensites in the towns of Bristol, Elkhart, Goshen,Middlebury, Nappanee, Shipshewana andWakarusa. The gardens celebrate small-townIndiana with lush and colorful blooms de-signed in intricate quilt patterns. The commonthread woven within each of these unique quiltgardens is the story that blossoms from study-ing the thought-provoking symbolism behindthe vibrant patterns of flowers.

"Oma’s Blumen Garten," which means

“grandmother’s flower garden” in German,is 30 feet by 30 feet of lavishly planted flow-ers and vegetables located at the NappaneeCenter. The quaint garden symbolizes thehardworking Amish people and the mothersand children who typically work in the gar-den. The mosaic pattern depicts an Amishvegetable garden, featuring green veggies,chard and flowering kale.

Das Dutchman Essenhaus inMiddlebury is not only the largest restaurantin Indiana but is also the largest contributorto the Quilt Garden tour with its garden de-sign “Hands All Around,” which illustratesthe spirit of working together for a causeand depicts women working together finish-ing a quilt. The garden is a vast 49 feet by57 feet plot of land filled with lively blooms.Framed with Neon Rose Easy Wave petuniasand shaped in pink and white begonias, thequilt garden makes a colorful splash.

Over 200 volunteers are mobilized tomaintain the garden sites. Every site coordi-nates differently, according to SonyaHarman-Nash, quilt gardens project manag-

quilt gardenser for the Elkhart County Convention andVisitors Bureau. Some locations have paidstaff or a community structure of volunteers.Each group that wishes to participate in theQuilt Garden tour must agree to follow spe-cific guidelines for square footage, types ofplants, percentage of flowers versus rockand mulch and quilt patterns, which must beunique from other participants.

“The tour combines 19 uniquely de-signed quilt gardens with 21 hand-paintedmurals of quilt patterns displayed on thesides of buildings throughout the towns,”explains Nash. “On average, we order150,000 plants from local greenhouses forthe initial planting of the gardens in January.

Plants within the garden are continuallybeing replaced, and throughout the tourdates of May 30 through Oct. 1, the gardensreflect approximately 1 million blooms.”

RESOURCE:Elkhart County Convention and Visitors BureauElkhart800.262.8161www.amishcountry.org

shining moments

a blooming adventure along the heritage trail

MAP YOUR DRIVEThe garden tours are open to the public during daylight hoursMay 30 through Oct. 1. Find maps to the quilt gardens at thefollowing locations:

• Download a map at www.quiltgardens.com.• Pick up a map at the Elkhart Visitors Center.• Pick up a map at each garden site.