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Garden Tours with TAP

International Peace Garden

Dunseith, North Dakota, and Boissevain, Manitoba

At the International Peace Garden, straddling the invisible line between Canada and the United States, sits a stone cairn that was built in 1932 for the garden’s dedication. A plaque on its face reads: “TO GOD IN HIS GLORY, we two nations dedicate this garden and pledge ourselves that as long as men shall live, we will not take up arms against one another.”

The 3.7-square-mile garden spans the border between the two nations and highlights their oneness, said Kathy McGhan, administrative manager for the International Peace Garden. The two nations’ flags fly on either side of the cairn, flowers form both countries’ flags, and a lake on each side of the international line is named after a man from the other country.

The Interpretive Center, which opened in 2010, houses the garden’s conservatory, a retail shop and the Border Walk Cafe. Inside the conservatory, visitors find more than 6,500 plants, including one of the world’s largest collections of succulents and cacti, McGhan said.

“No matter when I bring them through, something will be blooming,” she said. “They’re just amazed at everything they see.”

Visitors always love the famous working floral clock, and “their mouths just drop when they see the flowers and the octagonal pond in the Sunken Garden,” McGhan said. One of guests’ favorite photo spots is at the upper terrace in the Formal Gardens where they can straddle the border and stand with a foot in each country.

Groups should keep one thought in mind when visiting: They’re leaving the country, so they need to show documentation. Although a passport is preferred, guests can also show a photo ID or a copy of their birth certificate, McGhan said.

www.peacegarden.com