Franklin Park Conservatory: Columbus Gardens & Walking Guide

Franklin Park is two destinations in one. There's the big, free, 88-acre public park with shade trees, ponds, and an easy mile-plus of paved walking paths. And there's the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens tucked inside it, a ticketed glasshouse where you can walk through a tropical rainforest, a desert, and a Pacific Island water garden without leaving Columbus. Together they make one of the city's best spots for a relaxed walk with a little wonder mixed in.

This one is for the days you want green space and gardens rather than rugged trail. It's flat, accessible, close to downtown, and works just as well for a quick lunchtime loop as for a half-day visit with kids.

The park: free and open

The surrounding park is free, and it's the right call if you just want to walk. About 1.1 miles of paved paths meander through open lawns, past ponds, and around the gardens, with a few gentle rises but nothing taxing. The Cascades, a waterfall feature built for the 1992 AmeriFlora exposition, still runs as a centerpiece, and the grounds include an amphitheater, a playground, picnic areas, and a stand of cherry blossom trees given as a gift from Japan. In spring, those blossoms are reason enough to come.

The conservatory: worth the ticket

The conservatory occupies about 13 acres of indoor and outdoor garden space, and it does require admission, generally in the range of twenty to twenty-five dollars for adults, with discounts for seniors, children, and residents, plus the occasional free community day. Inside, themed glasshouse biomes carry you from a tropical rainforest to a desert to a Himalayan mountain garden to a Pacific Island water garden, with more than 400 plant species in the collections.

The historic heart of the place is the Palm House, an 1895 Victorian glass greenhouse that anchors the whole campus. Threaded throughout is a permanent collection of glass artwork by Dale Chihuly, whose forms tangle right into the living plants. Seasonal exhibits rotate through the year, from Blooms and Butterflies in summer to orchids in late winter to holiday light displays. There's also a Children's Garden and a nearby community garden campus with an apiary and a demonstration kitchen.

A little history

The land has been a gathering place for a long time. It was bought in 1852 for the Franklin County Fair, hosted the Ohio State Fair from 1874 to 1884, and was converted into a public park in the 1880s. The original Palm House greenhouse opened in 1895, inspired by the world's fairs and the City Beautiful movement. The modern era arrived in 1992, when Franklin Park hosted AmeriFlora '92, a major international horticulture exposition that triggered the expansion into the biomes, education spaces, and event venues there today. You can read the fuller story of that expo in our piece on AmeriFlora '92.

Tips for your visit

• Walking only? Stick to the free park and its paved loops. You don't need a ticket to enjoy the grounds.
• Want the gardens? Buy conservatory admission, and check the calendar first; seasonal exhibits change the whole experience.
• Spring brings the cherry blossoms outdoors and orchids inside. Winter is when the warm, humid glasshouse earns its keep.
• Accessibility: paths in both the park and the conservatory are flat and largely accessible, good for strollers and wheelchairs.

Nearby green spaces

• Topiary Garden at Old Deaf School Park — a one-of-a-kind sculpted garden a few minutes west, downtown.
• Inniswood Metro Gardens — woodland trails and themed gardens in Westerville.
• Scioto Audubon Metro Park — riverside trails and birding just southwest of downtown.