About 30 people gathered at the historic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island for this program sponsored by the Michigan Master Gardener Volunteer Program. Lynn La Pointe Wiese, a registered Landscape Architect and instructor of garden design programs throughout the state, provided design concepts for getting the most from your annuals. Steve Bernard, horticulturist at the Grand Hotel, was our tour guide of the beautiful gardens associated with the hotel.

Many of the houses on Mackinac Island feature beautiful flower beds. Even the trees want to see what is going on.

No motor vehicles are allowed on the island and all transportation is by foot, bicycle or horse drawn conveyance. The animals give the quaint island a certain "air" of earlier, quieter days.

We stayed at the world renowned Grand Hotel during the conference. During our brief stay, we were treated to delicious meals and heard a colorful, humorous history of the hotel by the head concierge. With all the ups and downs the hotel and its owners have sustained, it is amazing that it is still around for us to enjoy.

The famous front porch is a place to sit and listen to piano music and look out to the Straits of Mackinac for passing ships. There are approximately 1,200 geraniums in the planter boxes along the porch edge. The variety this year is "Rocky Mountain High."

If you attended this program and would like to contribute some of your pictures for display, please send them in .jpg format to Ralph Heiden.