On Wednesdays, volunteers are not only vital in keeping the gardens looking their best — they are also guides, pointing a sometimes clueless photographer toward the things only an attentive observer notices. A Michigan Lily tucked away in the prairie garden. A Black Swallowtail caterpillar slowly working its way through a meal.

The garden has a way of revealing itself, but only if you slow down long enough to look.

Watching this caterpillar reminds us that the smallest moments often carry the biggest stories. A leaf being eaten is not just a leaf being eaten — it is part of a larger cycle of growth, transformation, and connection.

And that may be the greatest gift of a place like this: the knowledge is shared. Passed from volunteer to visitor, from gardener to photographer, from one curious person to another. The garden grows not only through plants, but through the community that learns from it and carries that knowledge forward.