Day tripping: These stops are worth the drive

Consider any of the following public gardens for your next day (or two) trip:

*Anderson Japanese Gardens, 318 Spring Creek Road, Rockford; (815) 229-9390; www.andersongardens.org.

Anderson Japanese Gardens was voted the number one Japanese Garden in North America for the past six years.

*Vander Veer Botanical Park, 215 W. Central Park, Davenport, Iowa; (563) 326-7812; www.cityofdavenportiowa.com.

Dating from 1885, the 33 acres include gardens, a conservatory, a stone fountain, a children’s sculpture garden and a lagoon.

*Luthy Botanical Gardens, 2218 N. Prospect, Peoria; (309) 686-3362; www.peoriaparks.org.

Outdoor gardens, conservatory and garden shop.

*Chicago Botanic Gardens, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe; (847) 835-5440; www.chicagobotanic.org.

Over a century old, the 385-acre garden features 23 display gardens and three native habitats and is situated on nine islands surrounded by lakes.

*****

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”  (Lady Bird Johnson, in Public Roads: Where Flowers Bloom)

For more of Diane's Gibson's column, see the June 18 Galva News.