Meyers' business, Historical Courtyards and Gardens builds what he calls "outdoor living rooms" for people, and the 13-room garden that overlooks Lake Michigan at The Quiet Moose is his showcase.

The formal gardens transport visitors through time and palace - from a 19th century English brick courtyard complete with lion's head fountain to an intricate French garden of six-inch high manicured shrubs to the pachysandra and colored stones of a Japanese garden.

Meyers' garden provides a beautiful backdrop for a temporary escape from reality.

"The fragrance of a flower can take us away from our crazy live," Meyers says. "I want people to comuune with nature here. Sit, see, smell, and feel."

Meyers' initiation to gardening began somewhat against his will." My grandfather was from Germany and I had to take care of his garden whether I liked it or not," Meyers says. "That's how the seeds were planted...so to speak."

The Quiet Moose gardens began almost as casually. Talks between Meyers and William Declever, owner of The Quiet Moose, led them into the 12-week, $500,000 project launched in 1995. The goal? Compliment the store while highlighting Meyers' work. Since then 10,000 people have strolled through the gardens. They don't usually come to tour and shop, but somehow people always end up doing both, "The gardens relax people," says full time gardener Laura Cook. "It's good for business. I think it puts them in the buying mood. They see the gardens and get ideas for how their home could be more beautiful, more relaxing, more like this."

Meyers sticks to formal linear design in his gardens. Each line draws a person's sight to either a focal point (such as a statue) or a point of refuge (a bench) "It's a way to invoke participation and the senses," Meyers says. Visitors are pulled from room to room. Informal designs, or what Meyers calls cottage gardens, are curved rather than linear. The point there is to "surprise and delight" he says. "People don't see what's coming."

Cook is quick to point out that a linear approach can still delight. "One hundred percent of the people are in absolute awe," says Cook, who spends a lot of time answering questions. "They want to know what to plant where in their own gardens and what our secret for success is. I tell them all our plants do so well because they grow up with this beautiful view of the lake."

The Quiet Moose gardens overlook Lake Michigan one mile south of downtown Petoskey on U.S. 31. The store is open Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a self-guiding tour. Peak viewing times vary, depending on what you hope to see. Don't miss the phlox and daffodils of early spring, Monet's iris garden in June, or the sundial garden's purple cone flowers and black-eyed Susan's at summer's end. To talk to someone from Historical Courtyards and Gardens, call 616-348-1840 or 888-537-9714.

*note the contact info for Historical Courtyards and Gardens has changed and is now 248-544-1218.