Dow Gardens and the Whiting Forest of Dow Gardens

We visited this garden in Fall season and its perfect choice. Dow Gardens and Whiting Forest is awesome beautiful. We seen beautiful fall colors. We walked around the park and We enjoyed seeing the different plants, flowers, and trees. The Canopy Walkway was must see attraction at park. It has beautiful trail walk and glass top view. My daughter enjoyed the Children's Garden tremendously. Highly recommend a visit to commune with nature and beauty for a few hours.

This is an awesome place. Well worth the drive. We came from 2 hours away. Lots of walking, beautiful paved paths, mulched trails. The canopy walk is built to stand till the end of time. The flowers and trees are all so beautiful. Everything about this place is so peaceful and calming. There is a waterfall, a stream, flower gardens, trees, ponds, bridges, and lots of soft green grass. There are also lots of benches to sit and enjoy the views and relax. Spend the day and enjoy.

Dow Gardens is an absolute gem! 🌸 The entire place is beautifully maintained with vibrant flowers, peaceful walking trails, and well-designed landscapes that change with the seasons. The canopy walk is a must-try it gives you a stunning bird’s-eye view of the trees and gardens. It’s such a refreshing spot to relax, take photos, and enjoy nature. Perfect for a family outing, a quiet stroll, or even just some “me-time.” The staff is friendly, and everything feels thoughtfully taken care of. Truly one of the most beautiful places to visit in Michigan! 🌿✨

Dow Gardens are beautiful. Such a peaceful and lovely way to spend an afternoon. Everything is very walkable and extremely well maintained. The staff are friendly and helpful. I met a friend at the gardens and we spent a few hours catching up, and we really enjoyed ourselves. They would be equally enjoyable solo, or as a family.

Dow Gardens in Midland, MI is truly a gem and a place that exceeded my expectations. From the moment we walked in, the grounds were spotless and extremely well cared for. One of the features I really appreciated was that nearly every plant and tree was tagged, so not only do you get to enjoy the beauty of the gardens, but you also learn along the way. For someone who enjoys plants and landscaping, this is a wonderful touch that makes the visit both relaxing and educational. We covered about 3.5 miles walking through the gardens, which felt like just the right amount to take in the highlights without being overwhelming. The trails are easy to follow, and as you go, you’ll come across a variety of landscapes—from open, colorful flower beds to shaded paths and beautifully designed garden sections. The colors throughout were simply stunning, and as you can see from the photos I’ve added, it’s an incredible place for photography. About halfway through our walk, we stopped at the café located right inside the gardens. It’s a nice break spot that offers beverages, coffee, ice cream, chips, and a few other snacks. It really adds to the experience, especially on a warm day when you need to cool off or recharge before continuing your walk. If you’re bringing kids, they do have a dedicated play area within the gardens, but honestly, the canopy walk seemed to be the biggest hit with the younger visitors. I saw so many kids excited and full of energy while crossing it. I had thought the canopy walk would be a little longer based on photos I’d seen beforehand, but even though it was shorter than I expected, it was still absolutely worth experiencing. Another major plus is that the gardens are handicap accessible, which makes it possible for people of all ages and mobility levels to enjoy. That’s something not every botanical garden offers, and it really stood out to me. Overall, Dow Gardens offers the perfect mix of natural beauty, education, and accessibility. Whether you’re a local or just visiting Midland, it’s a place I highly recommend. Plan on spending at least a few hours here to fully enjoy the trails, the café, and the canopy walk. It’s a wonderful way to spend a day surrounded by nature.

Enjoyable, relaxing, intriguing. Had a fabulous day wondering different paths throughout the gardens and your even encouraged to leave the path to walk across the lawn to find other hidden places. Saw lots of different varieties of plants and flowers. Thought things were labeled quite well so you knew what you were looking at. Had a canopy walk which was really cool to be up so high in the pine trees to look out across different areas of the grounds. The café by the canopy walk was very well priced having sandwiches, drinks and ice-cream. Looking forward to another trip on a Thursday or Friday so I can tour the Pines home.

I love coming here in the Fall to see the colors of the leaves on the canopy walk. But the summer is just as nice. You can definitely get a workout in if you walk all of the gardens and the canopy walk in one day. So sad that the playground was made out of wood and rotting and got torn down. I do hope they make plans to make another one.

Just beautiful canopy walk! We loved it and plan to visit in the spring and summer when it's warmer. We visited in November so it was cold and most things are dead, but still beautiful.

Such a wonderful place for the entire family to enjoy!! Definitely a must to buy their yearly pass!!

Wow!! I love it here! My hubby planned a day trip here for us. I had never heard of Whiting Forest before. I didn't honestly know what to expect but loved it all. The canopy walk just blew us away. I love the hammock area where you can sit suspended above the ground, that was my favorite. It was so unique and interesting as were the other areas they had to climb into. Besides the beauty that surrounded us everywhere. The thing that really stuck out to us was how well the whole area was taken care of. The gating was clean, no spiders or cobweb's hanging anywhere, as is the case most places. And for someone who hates spiders. I can't tell you how much it's appreciated. If you are looking for pricing. It's $10 a person $2 for students. Or $20 a year per person. We had purchased a day ticket. But after 10 minutes knew that we had to change that. So before we left we went and purchased the year passes!! This also includes the Dow Gardens

This is a beautiful little heaven in Michigan that I'm so happy I've discovered! The lush gardens, little brook that flows through, the amazing children's playground, canopy walk... little cafe... everything made me fall in love with this little enchanted garden. Nothing but love for this place.

This Whiting Forest was just opened last fall, and I am glad that I visited it today. The admission costs $10 per adult, and you can visit both Dow Gardens and Forest by paying one ticket. Very well maintained walking trails with nice outlook spots. Beautiful pine trees and lakes. I enjoyed sitting on lakeside and watching the beautiful trees and clouds reflections on the water. There is a nice cafe inside the Forest. Coffee and pastries are delicious and prices are reasonable. If you buy annual pass for $20, you can visit the garden all year round. I definitely will come back to visit.

I moved to Michigan soon after construction began here, so I have been eagerly awaiting its completion. Even though I hate people and it was crowded on opening day, I had to see for myself if it was worth the wait. At $10 (for now) for an annual pass, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out. It is awesome! Not in the surfer bro kind of way; rather, a result of the beauty of nature invoking the actual feeling of awe. Looking out through the trees and over the ponds is very peaceful even with all the people around. I love that trees are allowed to grow through holes built into the canopy walk so as to disturb as little as possible. After you get your fill of views, there is plenty of trail to walk on the ground as well. Surprisingly, almost the entire canopy walk is wheelchair-friendly and there is even one paved trail on the ground. The toilet situation in the visitor center consists of separate family bathrooms, baby-changing stations, and extra sinks; easily one-upping the nice bathrooms at Dow Gardens. However; the ones in the cafe are nowhere near as nice. The cafe is actually the only thing I could complain about. I get that it will be busy on opening day, but the reason that the line was so long was that patrons were also paying for and asking questions about admission in addition to ordering food and drink. Separate registers, please and thank you. Or else just bring your own picnic. Parking was obviously difficult but you can park at the library and enter Whiting Forest by bridge. There is another bridge under construction that will connect to Dow Gardens, where admission is also covered by your entrance fee here. Even though the price of the annual pass will increase to $20 next year, it's still well worth the price to enjoy the unique views in this lovely forest.

If you have elderly grandparents without a handicap card or license plate, or if you are a young family with little kids, this facility is not convenient to access. They have closed down the parking lot entrance at the GA Dow Library. Now, everyone must use the Dow Gardens entrance and traverse the hundreds of yards around to the Canopy Walk and the Playground.

Such a neat place! It wasn't as large as I thought it would be, but it's connected to Dow Gardens, so you'll definitely have an opportunity to get your workout in. My legs are giving me the middle finger right now. First time doing the canopy walk and it was so cool. There's even a see through bottom on one side of the canopy, and it made me a little dizzy. I had to stand on it though! There's even a side that has netting that the kids love to jump and lay on. Great views for sure.

What a great place to take a family or even go yourself to enjoy nature. Do you want to talk about when the best canopy walks that I've ever seen. One of the nicest little nature centers around and even a great area for the kids to enjoy. It also has a nice little café so you can joy a little bite to eat while the kids go run around. I'm kind of curious to see what this place looks like during winter so I might make a trip back up here. But for fall time it was amazing and I'm happy I got to experience it finally. For me it was worth the 2 hour drive to go. I hope they will build one around this way so I can enjoy it myself more often. I would for sure recommend going to this place if you want a different experience on enjoying nature but not at a crazy scale.

Dow is known for making sure things are safe and clean. This is no exception to that rule. Whiting forest will also buy you a ticket to the gardens, which is a steal if I do say so myself. The canopy walk is well executed. They had the foresight to build things around the trees but make sure that the trees have room to grow. The kids playground will make even adults want to play in it. They have a little water feature with over-sized rubber duckies and some pretty sweet slides. The canopy walk has some great features but it doesn't take too long to get through. They have a few walking trails that wind through the trees once you're over the walk. There is also a café near the playground if you're feeling peckish. I enjoy that they heat your pastry without request. I would also suggest trying the soup, it comes with your choice of bread.

I'd been looking forward to checking out Whiting Forest's new tree canopy walk for quite some time as I've seen it pop up in my social media feeds regularly throughout the summer and had a business trip in Midland in late October. What a beautiful place to enjoy the fall color, since you are literally walking amongst the leaves up in the tree tops. There are a couple of fun rope areas: one is supervised by a volunteer and offers three separate zones to bounce or lounge. It would be a great spot to read a book on your lunch break, the are there is a thin rope bridge that leads to a fort of sorts, and on my Friday morning visit the foot traffic coming in and out of there was bananas. I can't imagine how hectic the spot gets on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It would be wise to install a second form of ingress and egress to that station. Speaking of this place being bananas busy, when we left at around noon on a weekday there was a line of about 25 people queuing and we noticed some people were purchasing their time frame for the weekend in advance. Entrance is only $5 for a day or $10 for a year and includes entrance to both Whiting & Dow Gardens. They are working on a canopy walk that will connect the two parks. Annual fees will double to $20 starting in January so now is a smart time to get one (they'd make a great stocking stuffer, too.) They're good for year from the date of purchase. Bring a good camera -- the reflections of the fall leaves on the water is breathtaking.

Excellent spot to explore. Beautiful and unique, everyone in my family enjoyed it. The children's garden was incredibly cool.

Had the best time exploring everything they had to offer! The canopy walk was extremely accessible for all and was very well cleaned and maintained. Was well worth the cost and would recommend coming here for a day of adventure to anyone!! We drove an hour away and found plenty to do while we were there. The playground for children looked hands-down like the best play spot and the cafe was good and affordable. The walking trails were all very well maintained and easy to navigate.

We absolutely LOVE the canopy walk here! Really neat place! Highly recommend checking it out.

First off. They only offer an active military discount. the problem with this is sure they can use it for marketing they offer this but are no where close to an active duty base. There is a reserve base here but since they are not active they also are not eligible..so no they really dont have to give out a discount. Which is sad because Mac Whiting him self was a veteran yet they offer. Very disappointing. This is somthing that may be good in spring or early fall when things are in bloom. Late fall I would not go again. There is really nothing to see and the canopy is not supper big and geared more for little kids. The student prices are good at only 2.00 but 10.00 for adults I think is a bit excessive. Deffenatly getting more hipe than it deserves ..

Worth the wait for the renovations to be completed. Absolutely love visiting here to traverse the canopy walk as well as wandering around the pond loop. The pond overlook is probably one of the most picturesque views between Whiting Forest and Dow Gardens. Definitely worth getting an annual pass.

What a great way to enjoy a beautiful sunny fall day! We were traveling back from a trip up north and this was a half way stop. We stretched our legs walking over the gardens and enjoying the view. We also took the time to visit the rose garden and children's garden too. It was a delightful day stopping to smell the Rose's.

Ah maze ing!!! Took the kids on a last minute trip. We had an absolute blast. The canopy walk was awesome. Kids enjoyed climbing and exploring. Beautiful views. Then we ended at the kids area splash pad playground. They literally played for over 4 hours and didn't want to leave. This is a must see if you live in Michigan or are visiting. You will not be disappointed

First time visiting. Just a few miles from the casino & you feel like you are waking through the trees on the Forest Moon of Endor. Fun & Exciting. Definitely coming back. We even visited in the rain

Part of Dow gardens and a beautiful place to just wander around and explore. The canopy walk is stunning and the staff really care.

The new canopy walk at Whiting Forest is phenomenal. The architecture is impressive and the scenery is breathtaking! I could spend hours wandering around the canopy walk and the serene wooded trails. Great place to take visitors of any age when in the area!

My family adores Whiting Forest! My son loves the play area full of whimsy and I love the tasty coffee available in the cafe. Everyone wins! The Canopy walk is always so fun and the "giant people spider webs" at the top are super fun to play in. A favorite for sure!

the canopy walk is great for people who think to themselves, "wow, this sidewalk is lame. if only it was 20 feet in the air."

This park is an amazing combination of family friendly adventure, beautiful nature, and brilliantly designed playground. The elevated bridges, creatively designed "sky nests," rope bridges, and glass floors on the canopy walks were so fun for the kids and adults. This is a rare nature and design gem!

LOVE this place so much that I purchased an annual pass! I particularly love that it feels so relaxing/like you're someplace far away, while being in the heart of Midland!

I loved walking around with my family and it's very wheelchair accessible , very convenient and great family activity to get everyone out of the house. Coming to and end of our excursion we stopped at the cafe as the kids where out on the playground and there espresso machine was broken food was rock hard and staff was very rude. The "cafe" was very nice decorated and comfy.

I didn't get to go on the canopy walk I was just picking my kid up from hanging out with grandma. But the park for the kids was great. I will definitely make it back with a packed lunch and make a day out of it. My 4 year old keeps asking when we are going back.