Raise the Sunken Garden

Become a Cranbrook House and Gardens #SunkenGarden Superhero and help fund the planting of nearly 5,000 annuals. Donate today, so we can plant in May!

Your gifts will help Cranbrook’s iconic Sunken Garden grow as a place for inspiration, discovery, learning, and many milestone moments. A gift of $25 can help cover the cost of as many as 50 plants!

Please help us “Raise the Sunken Garden” by donating to our GoFundMe campaign today. Your support will help fund nearly 5,000 plants that will be used!

About the Sunken Garden
The Sunken Garden is one of Cranbrook’s most spectacular sites. Cranbrook founders George and Ellen Booth first used the garden to grow vegetables to feed all the people living and working on their estate. The garden was sunken to extend the growing season. In later years, the Booths moved the vegetable garden and transformed the Sunken Garden into a flower garden.

Today, this formal garden surrounded by fieldstone walls blossoms into a living work of art attracting thousands of visitors each tour season. Four center rows of annuals (plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season) are framed by beds along the walls that are planted with a mixture of perennials (plants that live for more than two years) and annuals.

Distinctive patterns and color combinations are used to change the look of the Sunken Garden every year. Cranbrook House & Gardens Auxiliary Conservatory Greenhouse Co-Chair Paul Nelson, a retired project engineer and Bloomfield Hills resident, is the mastermind behind the design of the annuals. Paul strategically lays out each section and works with Auxiliary volunteers to plant the beds over the course of one to two weeks in late May through early June. The 2020 Sunken Garden will feature an amazing arrangement of begonias, salvia, and SunPatiens.

The perks of being a #SunkenGarden Superhero
$25: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall

$50: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall, Seed packet

$100: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall, Seed packet, One voucher for a tour of Cranbrook Gardens

$250: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall, Seed packet, One voucher for a tour of Cranbrook Gardens for two

$500: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall, Seed packet, One voucher for a tour of Cranbrook House & Gardens for two

$1,000: Postcard, Recognition on the Annu-Wall of Fame digital donor wall, Seed packet, One private tour of Cranbrook House & Gardens for two

Any funds raised above our goal of $5,000 will be used throughout the many gardens on our historic 40-acre site.

https://charity.gofundme.com/cranbrook-sunken-garden