Lansing: Cooley Gardens

Lansing, Michigan

Cooley Gardens

Located just a few blocks south of the Capitol, this one acre pocket park is bounded on the north by I-496 and on the west by General Motors. Eugene F. Cooley, a Lansing industrialist, donated the land to the City in 1938. Edward H. Laird of Birmingham, Michigan, a noted landscape architect, did the initial garden design.Typical of the formal estate gardens popular in the early part of this century, it is composed of themed garden rooms enclosed by shrubbery. There’s an extensive peony collection, a rose garden featuring David Austin English roses and classic old roses interplanted with a perennials, and an old fashioned cottage garden. Irises, hostas, hydrangeas and columbines are also showcased. [ info ]