Brookings, South Dakota.

The city of Brookings is located just off I-29 in eastern South Dakota. Home to South Dakota State University, the population of around 23,000 citizens grows each school session with the influx of students. Travelers who would like a driving break from heading north or south on the Interstate could easily find the usual place to stop at any typical exit ramp. However, if you’d like a quiet and beautiful place to take a longer break from the highway, consider leaving the Interstate at Exit 132 if southbound, or Exit 133 if northbound at Brookings. From either exit, McCrory Gardens is a little over a mile from the Interstate.

The gardens cover 25 acres and feature a variety of plants, including flowers, trees, shrubs, and vines. There are also several themed gardens, such as the Rose Garden, the Perennial Garden, and the Children’s Garden. You can find an online interactive map here.

The gardens are open to the public year-round and offer a variety of educational programs and events. The McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center houses a gift shop, a coffee shop, and a library. Admission to the gardens as of this writing is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and youth, and free for children 5 and under. Our visit happened in late June and the garden presented us with an early summertime appearance.

In a previous Cellpic Sunday, I featured a different view of this English Cottage Garden. Probably my favorite garden is this recreation characterized by its informal design and traditional materials. I found it most fascinating that the building for the space was once a gas station located in Lake Preston South Dakota, and moved to the gardens in 1996.

Many of the gardens are surrounded by walls of trees or high plantings. Between each major section, there are openings, sometimes only a narrow trail, other times, like this, an interesting design element. In the background, you can see one of the many benches for guests to sit and enjoy the beauty around them.

Beauty is its own excuse for being. However, the Gardens serve a more practical purpose. I “borrowed” the first sentence from the McCrory Gardens website to use in my title, but the quote went on to point out that the garden serves many purposes. The reference continues, “Ongoing research continues to provide new information to the scientific community and the public on the introduction, cultivation, and arrangement of native and domesticated plants.” You can find out more about the gardens here.

If you have the time, you can arrange for a tour created by the staff, or create your own self-guided tour through the gardens. With their online tour creator here, you can specify plant names or garden features. The tour software creates a map that allows a visitor to walk to their areas of choice in the shortest distance through the gardens.

There are several colorful gardens with plants that share the same color themes, e.g. the Red, White, Yellow, and Blue Gardens. The Red Garden is found on the northeast edge of the President’s Garden.

Of course, there is a rose garden. You’ll find it is a beautiful and fragrant garden that is home to over 1,000 roses. The garden is planted in a traditional rose garden style, with a central walkway and four quadrants of roses.

Look carefully, and you might see some of the regular visitors to the garden. With 25 acres of floral displays and 45 acres of arboretum, there is plenty of room for visitors of many kinds. The arboretum is home to over 2,000 trees and shrubs and is divided into four sections: native trees, ornamental trees, shade trees, and fruit trees.

I don’t know from what species of pine, but I found this particular pair of pine cones to be willing subjects. On my Flickr album here, you’ll find many more images than I posted in this article. I kinda went crazy capturing the views from the gardens.

As we were in the area for the annual Steiner Family Reunion, several of us visited the garden that day. I’m not much of an expert at portraiture, but I took advantage of the beautiful backgrounds to capture a few photos of my sister.

Development of the formal gardens at the site now known as McCrory Gardens began in the early 1960s. The formal garden site was subsequently named “McCrory Gardens” to honor Professor S.A. McCrory, who headed the Horticulture Department from 1947 until his death in 1964. McCrory Gardens features an impressive array of meticulously curated gardens and serene landscapes. With these gardens, South Dakota State University offers visitors an enchanting escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life. The gardens demonstrate SDSU’s commitment to education, research, and community engagement, and they have become a treasured destination for individuals of all ages.

John Steiner