Stop to Smell the Flowers: Gorgeous Gardens In and Around Toledo

Fun Guide  |  06/29/2022 2:00 pm

Living through gray Midwest winters makes the bright green seasons even sweeter! Take full advantage of these more colorful moments by visiting some of the lushest landscapes our corner of Ohio has to offer…

Schedel Gardens 
19255 W Portage River South Rd, Elmore, OH 43416

A membership to Schedel Gardens pays dividends, as it seems like every week something new is in bloom! Peony season is a delight, with a round garden entirely dedicated to this beloved flower. Also of note are roses; Schedel cares for over 80 varieties!

Throughout Schedel’s grounds are magnificent sculptures. Stone, bronze, marble, granite, steel and ceramic works are on display; featured artists include Joseph Sheppard, Tuck Langland, Robert Garcia, Andy Sacksteder and Emanuel Enriquez.

You’ll find a world-class Bonsai Garden here, with nearly 100-year-old trees among the 95 specimens. Schedel also offers a Tropical Garden, where plants not often nurtured in Ohio such as banana trees, elephant ears, pineapple, lime and pomegranate can be found. This garden also hosts wildlife in its reflecting pool, such as koi fish, frogs, and turtles. 

Simpson Garden Park 
1291 Conneaut Ave, Bowling Green, OH 43402

An oasis near to the bustling center of the college town that is Bowling Green, Simpson Garden Park features thirteen different garden areas across eleven acres, with well-kept walking paths in between. Don’t miss daylily season, when the park’s 1.3 acre Shade Garden comes alive with dozens of cultivars nurtured over decades.

Families visiting the park will appreciate the Children’s Discovery garden.In this hands-on teaching garden, visitors of all ages are encouraged to explore, touch, pick, water and plant. Highlights include an Underground Room for learning about bedrock and soil, the Silly Potting Shed providing an area to let children’s imaginations run free, and The Storybook Garden.

Toledo Botanical Gardens 
5403 Elmer Drive, Toledo, Ohio 43615

With more than 60 acres to explore, it’s easy to make a full day of visiting Toledo Botanical Garden. We love weaving our way through the many azalea and rhododendron plantings the park has to offer, to then come upon a peaceful pond and onto their nationally accredited display of hosta, with 500 taxa on display. 

Daylily season is also a delight here, with 400 cultivars along the award-winning Daylily Walk. Twenty-plus varieties of trees sprinkled throughout the gardens provide ample shade for those who like to picnic. 

We love their Doneghy Inclusive Garden - a recent addition, dedicated in 2020. This area features wheelchair accessible garden beds, a pergola offering ADA compliant seating, a sensory water wall, and plantings to delight the senses of smell and touch. 

577 Foundation 
577 East Front Street, Perrysburg, OH 43551

The 577 Foundation is rooted in the late local philanthropist Virginia Secor Stranahan’s dedicated stewardship for learning and the environment. In considering her values and wonder, we find the river walk especially peaceful - a grassy trail winding through a fruit-filled orchard to a hill top view of the Maumee River. To get a sense of community, gaze upon the 50 garden plots offered annually to community organic gardeners with a requirement that at least one row of produce be donated to local food banks. Each year, the gardeners grow and donate between 1,500 to 3,200 pounds of organic produce!  

Visitors will enjoy many educational opportunities while on site, including within the Bee Room. Here a local beekeeper cares for the thousands of bees gathering nectar from 577 Gardens to produce honey and perform the vital function of pollination, which in turn supports the surrounding flowers and vegetables.

Those exploring when there’s a chill in the air will especially enjoy the geodesic biodome. Used as a year-round greenhouse, the partially solar energized shelter is home to organically grown flowers, herbs, and vegetables developed by the staff horticulturist. The dome also features a peaceful koi pond and waterfall.

Sofia Quintero Community Garden 
1222 Broadway St, Toledo, OH 43609

When you think of the Sofia Quintero Community Center, you likely picture the colorful, vibrant building on Broadway hosting events and workshops. But just outside that building and beyond, the Sofia Quintero staff and volunteers have been extremely busy!

Around the Broadway site you’ll spot 50+ produce beds and eleven beehives, all of which play a part in encouraging healthy and local eating. These gardens have amassed over 2,500 pounds of pesticide-free produce for a local food bank, and residents can also be seen harvesting peppers, squash, tomatoes, okra and other vegetables. 

Another 35 raised beds have been newly added toward establishing a ‘Native Grounds’ area to grow plants native to Ohio; in just a few years’ time visitors can readily admire hundreds of native plants and wildflowers. Near this area a small prairie grounds was also created, attracting  nature’s small creatures to its bird and bug houses.

Norma Stark Memory Garden & Labyrinth 
345 W South Boundary, Perrysburg, OH 43551

The late Norma Jean Stark was lifelong educator who, after her retirement, traveled to the southwest and San Francisco where she became interested in Labyrinth Gardens. Along with being a Master Gardener, Norma sought to create something beautiful in memory of her parents and thus the Norma Stark Memory Garden & Labyrinth was born. 

Designed for quiet reflection and healing, this labyrinth - located in Perrysburg, Ohio - is an adaptation of the Chartres Labyrinth, found in a French cathedral dating back to 1202 A.D. Set in a residential neighborhood, approach slowly so as not to miss this hidden gem of a garden.

Glass City Metropark
983 Front St, Toledo, OH 43605

One of the city’s newer Metroparks, Glass City Metropark stays true to its name with a sleek yet welcoming glass pavilion at the center. Atop that is a green roof which can be reached by both - stairs and an accessible ramp. Head up top to view blooms of coneflower and a plethora of greenery swaying with the breeze blowing off the river.

A full loop around the park encourages you to discover over thirty varieties of plants, trees and shrubs. Many of these are part of reforestation efforts, or will enhance the habitat for wildlife via retention ponds and prairie areas with nectar-rich native flowers.

Collingwood Community Garden 
2472 Collingwood Blvd, Toledo, OH 43620

This garden on Collingwood near Delaware aims to regenerate its land into an edible forest ecosystem. With community-building and public health in mind, those involved place gathering and growing together at the center of all they do. 

Combining native habitat rehabilitation with food security efforts, here you’ll find cherries, sage, tomatoes and mint right next to flowering native plants and sturdy trees. Dozens of volunteers work to maintain the space, which is free for all to visit, caretake for, and harvest. 

Wildwood Manor House
5100 Central Ave, Toledo, OH 43615

Formerly a Stranahan family property, the Wildwood Manor House is a Georgian Colonial home in the center of Toledo Metroparks Wildwood Preserve. Open for free tours and hosting a variety of events, this house is certainly something to behold, but the surrounding garden’s beauty is a worthy competitor for attention!

The Manor House garden was developed by famous landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman, who described her style as ‘painting the landscape with plants and flowers.’ Shipman completed nearly 700 projects in her lifetime, but the Metroparks site is one of very few which has been restored and remains open to the public.

Throughout the seasons, admire Shipman’s careful curation - this assures something is always in bloom. Of note are flowering cherry trees and bleeding hearts in spring, astilbe and yellow roses in summer, and anemone in the fall. Winter was not neglected either; evergreens surround beautiful structures like wrought iron pergolas and fountains.

Toledo Museum of Art 
2445 Monroe St, Toledo, OH 43620

The campus of Toledo Museum of Art encompasses 40 acres, and more than 25 works of sculpture are placed throughout well manicured gardens and pathways. Landscape architects considered openness versus enclosure when planning the plantings; you will notice areas that feel like outdoor rooms for some sculptures, while others are situated on wide expanses in between and visible from the sidewalk.  When you’ve finished your walk around, rest on Mark di Suvero’s massive tire swing sculpture. 

Toledo GROWS
900 Oneida Street, Toledo, OH 43608

Rather than a singular garden location, Toledo GROWS is an organization that offers resources support sustainable garden projects that will reach people of all ages and abilities. The group supports over 125 community gardens, which include those at schools and organizations, faith-based gardens, and neighborhood efforts. 

Toledo GROWS homebase is an urban farm on Oneida Street, and those with aspirations to volunteer or learn more about this group are welcome to request a tour. Individuals or groups may call ahead to schedule a one-hour visit to the facility.

Toledo Zoo
2 Hippo Way, Toledo, OH 43609

The Toledo Zoo has admirable plants galore and there’s something to see from every angle - look up when visiting the goat barn in Nature’s Neighborhood to see the green roof growing wild! Driving in, admire one of the Zoo’s urban prairie efforts along the Anthony Wayne Trail median. 

Nearest the Zoo’s Broadway entrance look for the Conservatory, in front of which you’ll spot nearly 40 varieties of roses and a lily-filled pond. Much like their animal conservation efforts, the zoo also engages in plant-saving activity. For example, research is underway to prevent the extinction of White Lady’s Slipper, a flowering plant in the orchid family which has seen its native habitat impacted by agriculture and urbanization. 

Content Editor: Lindsay Williams