The Greening of Detroit - Lafayette Greens — Attraction in Detroit

I worked in a co-working office that looked over Campus Martius, an urban park with fountains, a restaurant on the green and statues.

That's my kind of place.

I worked on the Fifth floor of a building constructed in 1964, according to the cornerstone.

One year younger than my age, I think the building hardly shows its age.

For lunch, I went out with my camera and snapped photographs and walked to one of the famous Coney island shops, American Coney Island right next door to Lafayette Coney Island.

I had two with everything and walked over to the Book Cadillac hotel to buy a pack of mint gum to cover up the chopped onions.

The trees around Lafayette Greens have grown taller since my last visit.

The lavender had yet to lose its purple leaves and yet I noticed no tomatoes on the vines.

I resisted picking the ripe blackberries growing on the brambles rowing in a sculpture garden.

I knew the man who had brought the cheerful robots made of found metal scrap to the garden at least five years ago.

Tim Burke makes them at his studio, Detroit Industrial Gallery, sharing Heidelburg Street with Tyree Guyton.

We once stood on a sidewalk and chatted as thousands of people walked on by us.

His car had been decorated with plastic Godzilla statues standing up to the hood and trunk.

I was happy to see a collection of several in a space encircled by brambles bearing blackberries, hopefully on permanent display rather than a summer show.

Burke's sculptures have stood in Lafayette Greens for long enough that maybe no one will remember to move them.

I wanted to strike up one conversation in the garden.

I said, matter of fact, "These are flowers that look like they are looked at".

Not quite how T.S. Eliot puts it in the poem in four parts, the Four Quartets.

But close.

Her face reddened.

"I've been trying to grow this kind of flower for years, every spring since I lost my sister.

These were her favorite kind of flowers".

"Marigolds"?

Not even a nice try, but a polite guess.

"Black Eyed Susan's.

They grow wild but I cannot cultivate them in my garden.

I keep trying and failing.

This bunch is perfect".

I decided to tell her a story to inspire.

"Let me tell you a story and then I'll leave you to contemplate the flowers.

A fellow from Ohio was a great hunter and guide to hunters.

He always helped his clients bag a limit of geese.

And the geese knew him as if the geese could gossip about him.

Geese would flock on the lawn and eat grass and let children watch.

But the geese always fled Jack Miner.

He bought land on the north shore of Lake Erie, planted corn and grass and dug ponds for the geese.

However, it took ten years before the geese trusted him and would land.

And soon hundreds and hundreds of geese landed every spring".

"I need to be Jack Miner"!

She looked full of deep emotion.

"Yes, be like Jack Miner", and I strolled off between the raised beds of salad greens.

I pursued another morning strolling the streets of downtown Syracuse like an annoying mosquito of a paparazzi.

I caught the baker who delivers french pastries from the Stoop again and he asked, "What are you taking these pictures for today? Do you work for a magazine?"

"I mostly put the images on Instagram, a study of Syracuse in the morning".

"Here! Look yourself up on my phone".

I found his pictures from the week before and he chuckled.

"Boom", I said.

It seemed to be appropriate to say.

He chuckled again. And he ran off to make...

Lafayette Greens is a lush oasis tucked into the heart of downtown Detroit, where raised garden beds brim with herbs, vegetables, and flowering plants, all cultivated in the spirit of beauty and nourishment. Once the site of the Lafayette Building, this space now pulses with life--lavender hedges, pansies nestled beside asparagus, and pollinator-friendly blooms that attract bees and butterflies. There's something quietly joyful about watching green things grow here, especially against the backdrop of Detroit's Art Deco skyline.

This was a nice spot to take a pause, breathe deeply and get some return to nature after a day...

Hey, we’re Vicky🇵🇪 and Malte🇩🇪 from the travel blog "Traveling Is Our Passion"! If you have just one day in Detroit, a great place to see how the city is evolving is The Greening of Detroit – Lafayette Greens. Located in downtown, this small urban garden showcases Detroit’s efforts to turn once-barren, grey spaces into vibrant green areas. It was a great spot for us to see how the city is transforming.

For more details and our other top travel recommendations, check out our...