Friendship Botanic Gardens

Friendship Gardens is a 105 acre botanical sanctuary that enriches the community through programs that promote environmental stewardship and appreciation of the arts. Our natural and cultivated spaces are the perfect settings for unique experiences that forge lifelong connections between people and nature.

Friendship Botanic Gardens (a volunteer-based, not-for-profit organization) is a community treasure and an oasis of formal gardens and nature trails tucked in an old-growth forest surrounding Trail Creek in Michigan City, Indiana. F orested woodlands, sprawling open spaces, and cultivated gardens spill over 100 acres of land that have been a tourist destination since 1936. Gardens are tucked throughout the beautiful valley of Trail Creek.

Visit Lake Lucerne, a spring fed lake and home to muskrats, geese and turtles. The woods are home to deer, raccoons, groundhogs, squirrels, foxes, coyotes and wild turkeys. The songs of birds are heard in the quiet of this valley surrounded by hills.

The grounds are accessed by walking earthen trails and lawns. Self-guiding garden tours and nature trails delight and inform visitors. Dogs are welcome but must be leashed at all times.

The Board of Directors of Friendship Botanic Gardens are launching monumental efforts to revitalize and rejuvenate the Gardens.

We have Free Eco Oriented Community Programs throughout the year. We have around 3 miles of hiking trails also. We host the annual Lyric Opera event, and have initiated our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Easter, as well as our new annual Haunted Trails event in October.