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Pandemic Impact On Peonies: Officials Asking Flower Lovers To Stay Home This Year

Lisa Barry

The peonies are starting to bloom at Nichols Arboretum, but garden officials are telling people to stay away due to coronavirus concerns.

Thousands of people traditionally come to the peony garden in Nichols Arboretum each year to see the flowers.

The Director of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, Robert Grese, says allowing crowds to gather could spread COVID-19, and the garden is only a stone's throw away from the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Credit Lisa Barry
A peony at Nichols Arboretum.

“And people coming to visit would be sharing the same parking lots with all the medical staff, so we thought the most prudent thing to do this year was simply to urge people to stay home and then come back and visit us next year,” Grese says.

Credit Lisa Barry
A peony at Nichols Arboretum.

Grese says they will instead be making content available for people to view online.

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— Taylor Pinson is a writer/reporter for 89.1 WEMU News.  Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him studio@wemu.org

Taylor Pinson is a former WEMU news reporter and engineer.
Taylor Pinson is a former WEMU news reporter and engineer.
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