Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Columbus

My happy spot in Columbus! At least one of them... The special art exhibits are fantastic! I especially liked the Bruce Monro exhibit in winter 13/14 was amazing! And it is also a fabulous plant conservatory. It's so fun to see a cacao tree with pods growing on the trunk and imagining the chocolate that could be made from it. Having hundreds (thousands?) of orchids blooming in the middle of winter makes the cold climate more manageable. Butterflies 9 months of the year makes kids (and adults wanting to be kids again) happy too! It's not cheap, but then if you're a local and think you'd visit 4+ times a year the annual membership is completely worthwhile.

A great place to take kids! As a kid myself, I generally enjoyed it. It was rainy, so we mostly stayed indoors, but there still is a lot to do indoors! With multiple places to take photos, a family will love this place!

I'm not much of a plant person. My friend and I went here for the butterfly exhibit and just to look around. It was crowded and a bit annoying to try to enjoy anything with strollers blocking the way every time you turned around. Overall it was an enjoyable experience, I had never been to the Conservatory or even Franklin Park outside of the annual Asian Festival so it was nice to walk around, catch up with my friend, and look at *some* interesting things. It was EXPENSIVE though. Too expensive for me to ever be likely to return. $15 per person was a little much for the hour, hour and a half of time it took to see everything. We had lunch there too, which was another mistake because that too was priced through the roof. I understand they have to get money to keep the place running (and apparently make more renovations like they are currently doing) but it wasn't worth it for me at all. That $15 can get me gas to go somewhere more interesting to me.

This place is incredible! I have been coming here since I was a child. They have child friendly hands on activities on the lower level. I can see by the construction out side they are adding a new playground and other child centric items. I was especially excited to go today. It has been in the single digits foe a while and it was wonderful to feel like I was outside breathing fresh air without freezing.

What an amazing place! Got to see the butterfly release and the accompanying short lecture...very well done. The entire Conservatory is worth the trip...don't short yourself on time...you'll miss so much! Enjoy!