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Elkhart County beckons tourists to quilt flower gardens

By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

ELKHART, Ind. — Something new and colorful is dotting the countryside of northern Indiana’s Amish region this summer.
Quilt gardens – flower gardens designed in the shape of quilt pieces – are being used as a marketing tool to promote the area’s heritage and history, said Sonya Nash, project manager for the Quilt Gardens Tour, coordinated by the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“We were looking for a signature event for the community, something that fits in with our Amish country brand,” she said. “We wanted something that shows our heritage and shows who we are.”
Gardening is the number one hobby in America and there are about 27 million quilters in the United States, so the combination seemed natural, she said.

“Quilts are synonymous with the Amish community. We were brainstorming and wondered, could we take a garden and plant it in the design of a quilt.”

The project started in 2008 with 12 test quilt gardens, and this year there are 16 gardens. In addition, there are several murals depicting quilt patterns painted on the sides of buildings in the area. The gardens will continue next year with the possibility of additional sites, Nash said. The Quilt Gardens Tour is from Memorial Day to Oct. 1.

“We did it with the 12 the first year to see if we could do it. There’s a big learning curve. You’re dealing with natural elements, and we’ve learned a lot about things like soil testing. We’ve also learned to look at plants and how they withstand the elements.”
The murals are an option for businesses that don’t have the space or time to take care of a garden, she said.

“They’re an integral part of the tour. They’re hand-painted original pieces of art. It’s meant to be one inclusive tour.”

The Quilt Gardens Tour is primarily in Elkhart County, in north central Indiana, but also includes the Shipshewana area, which is in LaGrange County, immediately to the east.

“This has been a great project to unite seven different towns for the first time,” Nash said. “We’ve been breaking down barriers in our own county and the local communities. Especially in this rough economic time, we have enjoyed this. We need to have a bright shining star to hang our hats on.”

The quilt tour was designated one of the American Bus Assoc.’s top 100 events of 2009, she said.

The convention and visitors bureau primarily markets within a 150-mile radius, which includes Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis, but visitors come from all over the country, Nash said.

“Bus tours are definitely up. We’ve had people from all over, from Florida, the east coast, the west coast, from Texas. In 2008, the average length of stay for visitors to the area was two-and-a-half days.”

Plant materials for the quilt gardens are paid for by the convention and visitors bureau, but the installation and upkeep costs are the responsibility of whoever is in charge of a particular garden.
“This is a public-private project,” Nash said. “Everyone is learning just as much as we are. There’s a lot of expense and labor involved. When people apply, we make sure they understand what’s involved. We ask them to be sure you can do what you’ve applied to do.

“It’s a big project, but we’re not here to set anyone up for failure. We rely on a lot of volunteers, some of whom are Master Gardeners, the Amish, and community leaders. That’s been our joy and our challenge,” she said.

Businesses and others interested in hosting a quilt garden must submit a design. No two quilt gardens may have the same design in the same year, nor can the same design be repeated by the same quilt garden the next year.

Kori Cripe and her family, owners of the historic Meadow Brook Farm have a agri-quilt garden on their farm near Goshen. The family appreciates that the Quilt Gardens Tour focuses on promoting agriculture and the history of the area.

“Agriculture is really an important part of our heritage and history,” Cripe said. “We plan to continue to do this next year because we want to keep promoting agriculture because it has been an important part of our lives.”

The Cripe’s quilt is in the grandmother’s fan pattern and features corn, soybeans, buckwheat, alfalfa and sunflowers.

“It’s been an interesting year and a challenging one,” she said. “We’ve grown crops before but never in a pattern. We had to learn how to fertilize and use proper weed and insect control. It was a lot more work than we thought but we want to continue to promote this and our way of life.”

Visitors who have signed their guest book have come from Indiana and the United States, and from as far away places as Australia, New Zealand and Europe, Cripe said.

The town of Wakarusa constructed a permanent frame for its quilt, which is in the stone mason’s puzzle pattern, said Susie Kulp, the floral coordinator for the town. She and her husband Nick are paid by the town to manage and maintain the garden.

The quilt is 30 feet by 30 feet and features red salvia, marigolds and petunias. The frame and quilt are sloped from a height of six inches at the front to 42 inches at the back.

“It takes a lot of thought and homework to plan these out,” Kulp said. “We laid it out with stakes and string and a lot of measuring. It took about 60 man hours to plant.

“You have to think of so many things. I like bright colors but you also have to consider how tall the plants will grow. You want them to be similar in size. You also have to be sure you can keep straight lines and right angles really sharp.”

The Quilt Gardens Tour is an extension of what people expect when they come to the area, Nash said.

“We’ve been having so much fun with this. It’s brought a deep sense of community pride. The benefits have far outweighed all the wear and tear and cost.”

For more information on the Quilt Gardens Tour, see www.AmishCountry.org The tour generally follows the Heritage Trail, a 90-mile circuit through Elkhart County and a part of LaGrange County. The site includes a downloadable audio tour of the trail.

8/26/2009