Public Horticulture

The Franklin Park Conservatory was originally built in 1895 in Columbus, Ohio by the Franklin County Agriculture Society. The original conservatory was influenced by Chicago’s World Fair and Columbian Exposition and built to match their victorian style. The original glass structure, known as the palm house, is currently on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1992 Franklin Park Conservatory was the host site for the Ameriflora horticultural exhibition. Improvements and additions were made to the original glass house to prepare for this event, and two new conservatories totaling 58,000 square feet were built in 1989 to expand the space for plant collections.Today the conservatories contain indoor collections of Himalayan, Rainforest, Desert and South Pacific ecosystems. The indoor plant collections are supplemented with numerous outdoor display gardens. There is a multitude of specialized plant collections, herbaceous beds, and formal parterre beds in the park surrounding the conservatory. The conservatory is host to seasonal exhibitions such as Blooms and Butterflies, a collection of thousands of tropical butterflies within the South Pacific artificial ecosystem. The conservatory is also home to a permanent Chihuly ornamental glass collection. World renowned artist and glass blower Dale Chihuly commissioned a number of permanent pieces, valued near $7 million US,  specifically for Franklin Park Conservatory. His design and placement of the glass pieces is flawless and perfectly complementary to the plant collections.

Franklin Park Conservatory charges $7.50 for adult admission as well as offering a variety of educational events, volunteer activities and social event planning. The park surrounding the conservatory is free to the public and contains nearly 90 acres of urban botanic gardens, water features and recreation amenities. The conservatory offers education programs in urban and community gardening, lectures on popular ornamental plant species, and activites that coincide with their seasonal exhibitions. The conservatory is open Tuesday – Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm and is located on East Broad Street two miles from downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Dawes Arboretum was established by Beman Dawes because he wanted people to have the opportunity to learn about the importance and beauty of trees. The arboretum was founded in 1929 and now is made up of over 1700 acres of plant collections, gardens and natural areas.

These plant collections and gardens are made up of 15,000 plants and 4500 of which are unique names. Specific records are kept, including dates, locations, origin and age, for all the plants in the arboretum. The collections are bases on a variety of themes from Japanese gardens to conifer collections to the oak and holly hills. The property also includes the original Dawes house, the Dawes Lake, hiking trails and a log cabin in the deep woods.

There are several different events that Dawes host during the year too. During the months of February thru March they are tapping maple trees for syrup and that can be seen now. They host an arbor day as well as a plant sale and auction to produce some funds for the arboretum. The arboretum has a propagation greenhouse where they create new varieties and with the extra they will sell to the members and others who show up. Dawes also hosts a bonsai show where they give free demonstrations. Dawes’ bonsai collection consists of over one hundred plants for your viewing.

Lastly there are many bald cypress trees around the wetter areas of the arboretum and this is an amazing feature to see with all the knees that the trees produce. No matter what time of the year you go there will be something to see with the conifer collections in the winter and the Japanese gardens in the summer.

Visit Dawes Arboretum online.

Review by Aaron Tournoux

The Holden Arboretum, located in Kirtland, Ohio, is a well recognized arboretum that connects extremely well with the residents of greater Cleveland, Ohio. The arboretum’s slogan, “Connect, Learn and Conserve,” conveys their mission well. The arboretum has a reputable plant inventory consisting of a ornamental hedge , lilac, viburnum, crabapple, rhododenron, and other woody ornamentals collections. Yet alongside their plant collections are numerous natural conservation areas that are being managed for natural ecological preservation. These areas are becoming more important to the arboretum as they seek to connect with their community in new ways. As people become more aware of the global climate and ecological change, they also seek renewed interest in natural plant conservation. Holden is meeting this shift in conscience with their mission statement. Holden offers classes and lectures revolving around natural plant communities of Northeast Ohio and conservation issues. They also offer more conventional educational and recreational events such as tree identification and night hiking. Holden is employing new initiatives in horticultural therapy and traditional internship programs simultaneously, which is enabling the institution to increase its impact on a greater portion of the community.

For more information please visit the Holden Arboretum website.

Submitted by Dan Burcham