Today’s adventures on the Vespa brought me to the Millennium Garden in Plymouth, a suburb on the western side of the twin cities metro.

Typical recipes for city landscapes call for cutting the grass too low and watering too much. This is the historical norm of city and business landscapes: make it expected, make it barely existent, and make it unmemorable.

Plymouth challenged this notion, and they did it right.

The Millennium Garden hit a horticulture chord showing you can be wild while planned; sustainable and also intentional; a bit feral yet still civilized. A landscape melody of wilderness and urban, conveniently just mere minutes from bustling highway 55.

Established in 2001 and dedicated in 2003, the mature gardens are tucked behind the looming industrial architecture of the Plymouth Community Center. The seven gardens and water features that make up this landscape are connected by meandering paths of pavement and crushed gravel.

One can find an array of plants and inspiration, especially if your itch is satisfied with prairie style plantings. A massive hill adorned with rudbeckia, milkweed, bluestem and butterfly weed was in its fully glory. It would be a miss on my part to not complement the stunning jackmanii clematis and gorgeous cement planters found in the more formal areas of the garden.

Brides and grooms would be enamored with the photographic opportunities of the Grand Lawn and Water Garden. Even if it’s not your big day, normies like me could enjoy reconnecting with nature in the Butterfly Garden or enjoying a lunch sitting next to the fountains of the water features.

Speaking of the Butterfly Garden, this place practices what it preaches. On this hot July day, there are thousands if not millions of red aphids feasting on the tips of the cup plants found throughout Millennium Garden. Nature in its full glory feels welcomed in this place.

Wilderness (including the aphids) welcomed and celebrated in Plymouth, who would have thought?

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Address: 14800 34th Avenue N. Plymouth, MN 55447

Great for: adults looking for a reprieve of quiet time, prairie planting enthusiasts