After leaving my new friends in Michigan the route passed through Northern Indiana so I thought I would take the opportunity to stay in the heart of “Amish Country” – Shipshewana.
Handmade quilts are traditional and synonymous with the Amish lifestyle and they are represented all across this area of Indiana with by large bedding schemes following the historical Amish quilt patterns. The Quilt Gardens have become a tourist activity in their own right with a Quilt Gardens map showing the location and driving route to each scheme.
In the garden at Essenhaus, Middlebury over a thousand begonias were planted just to create the outside edge of the planting scheme.
For more information on the Amish Quilt Gardens please visit: http://www.amishcountry.org/things-to-do/quilt-gardens
The Travelling Horticultural Therapist 