We found ourselves in the “RV Capital of the World.”
Prior to our stop there, the only information we knew about Elkhart, Indiana was it’s home to facilities that manufacture RVs (recreational vehicles); hence the nickname for this city of around 50,000 people.
We stopped in Elkhart for lunch on our way back east from last summer’s road trip west. On today’s Tuesday Tour, I’m sharing some nice aspects we found there.
After checking out the Elkhart County Visitor’s Center, we soon learned Elkhart is a pleasant city boasting outdoor recreation including parks, bike paths, and nature reserves as well as cultural aspects like the Ruthmere Museum, the Midwest Museum of American Art, the National New York Central Railroad Museum, and Wellfield Botanic Gardens.
We didn’t take time to visit any of the museums because we picked up an intriguing map at the visitor’s center that showed a driving tour of the Quilt Gardens Along the Heritage Trail. We decided to spend our time viewing the gardens instead.
The quilt gardens became an Elkhart County tradition after their inaugural debut 17 years ago. Last week I shared more information about them and our first view of the quilt garden at the Ruthmere Museum. If you missed that post, click here.
Our second stop on the 2023 tour was to view the sizable garden designed in a quilt pattern located at Main and Marion Streets in downtown Elkhart’s Central Green area.
Located near the city’s River Walk and restaurants, shops, and arts and entertainment district, it’s a popular spot.
We had no difficulty finding parking though, then strolled along the city’s sidewalks on that nice summer day admiring the lovely flower displays of hanging baskets and planted flowers.
But when we arrived at the quilt garden, we were even more surprised.
The Quilt Garden named Changing Seasons proved to be impressive in size and design using pink, green, orange, brown, and burgundy red flowers and plants to denote the four seasons of the year.
Sprint Plus Pink Begonias provided the pink color and Triple Curled Parsley supplied green. The orange color was represented by Preciosa Series Orange Zinnias while the brown was Carex Comans Bronze plants and burgundy red was Wizard Velvet Red Coleus.
This year, 2024, a different quilt pattern called Take Heart will be planted on May 30 at the downtown Elkhart site. The garden can be viewed along with all the other different ones along the Heritage Trail until September 15.
As we left downtown Elkhart to continue our driving tour, I spotted this statue.
What’s more fitting than an elk in Elkhart?
We enjoyed viewing this quilt garden and our leisurely stroll on Elkhart’s sidewalks. Sunshine, warm weather and colorful flowers gave us a boost to continue our driving tour to see what we’d find next.
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul.” ~ Luther Burbank
©mamasemptynest.wordpress.com 2024
Mama's Empty Nest 
I went to the Quilt Gardens website for a few more details, and learned there are about 200 volunteers who help to create these. It was interesting to learn that there’s a fellow who paints murals of them, so that once the gardens are finished, there’s a different sort of record of them for people to enjoy. It would be such fun to visit them!
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Aren’t they amazing? And each year, a different design is planted in each location. I’d love to go back and see this year’s “quilts.”
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Looks good…spring time may be has arrived
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Not at our house yet. This photo was taken June 2023 while we were on vacation.
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