The Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve began as the country home of Kay and Walter Boydston, who purchased 12.5 acres in 1941. Additional land purchases have increased the site to 105 acres, providing space for the arboretum, prairie restoration, and newer gardens.
The Garden, located on the St. Joseph River., contains 8 acres of landscaped gardens, a 50-acre woodland nature preserve, a 40-acre arboretum of trees and shrubs from temperate regions around the world, and 5 acres of restored tallgrass prairie, as well as a conservatory featuring more than 100 kinds of tropical ferns.
The gardens include a Japanese "dry" garden, a hosta garden with dawn redwood and Ginkgo, a tufa rock garden started in the 1950s, a fern garden with more than 50 types of hardy ferns, a boxwood garden, a 1940s lilac garden, a lily pond, and an herb garden featuring more than 200 types of herbs.