Ann Arbor Nichols Arboretum
— the first week the peonies open.
Not only on a wall.
Ann Arbor Nichols Arboretum, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“A long meadow sloping down to the Huron River, ringed by oak and hickory, with the Peony Garden on the upper terrace. Locally it's just the Arb. The peony beds run a few weeks in late May and early June; the rest of the year it's prairie, woods, and the river path. The University of Michigan has stewarded it since 1907. — from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Nichols Arboretum, known locally as the Arb, is a 123-acre arboretum on the east side of Ann Arbor, Michigan, run by the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. The land was given to the university in 1907 by Walter and Esther Nichols and others, and the original design was shaped by landscape architect O. C. Simonds. The grounds drop from a ridge above Geddes Avenue down through prairie and woodland to the Huron River, with foot trails open daily, free of charge.
The Peony Garden on the upper terrace holds roughly 270 varieties of historic herbaceous peonies, most of them cultivars introduced before 1950. Peak bloom usually falls in late May and the first ten days of June, with the exact week shifting year to year. Outside the peony window, the Arb runs on a longer cycle: ephemerals and redbud in April, prairie grasses through July and August, oak and sugar maple in October. The Huron River corridor below the meadow is used for cross-country skiing in deep winter.
The Arb is open from sunrise to sunset every day, with no admission fee. Main entrances are off Geddes Avenue on the north and from Washington Heights near the University of Michigan medical campus on the west. The visitor entrance at Washington Heights includes parking, restrooms, and trail maps. The peony beds are accessible without climbing the trails. Dogs are allowed on leash; bicycles are not. The Arb hosts the Shakespeare in the Arb production each June on the Daffodil Knoll hillside.
