By Caitlin O'Brien

A longtime treasure of Columbus, the Franklin Park Conservatory has demonstrated that it is not only a place of beauty, exhibiting more than 400 species of local and exotic plants, but it is also incredibly functional.

For about the past decade, one of the Conservatory’s main projects has been the promotion and facilitation of bringing community gardening to the Columbus area, through its “Growing to Green” program.

Through its assistance in education and implementation, these community gardens have helped make local areas more beautiful and have provided new and fun ways for social interaction and recreation. Community garden groups have also donated more than 5 tons of produce to local food banks and soup kitchens

Since its launch in March 2000, Growing to Green has enjoyed enormous success, assisting in the creation or restoration of more than 130 community gardens and city-beautification projects.

Growing to Green has also gained national recognition and has become a signature program used as a profile for community garden projects throughout the country. This acclaim was one of the main reasons that in May 2006 the nonprofit American Community Gardening Association chose the Franklin Park Conservatory for its new national headquarters.

The Conservatory recently broke ground on the second project in its first phase of reconstruction. The $4 million dollar project will create a 4-acre community garden “campus,” which will have educational facilities including classrooms, an educational pavilion, learning gardens and classes that offer certification for gardeners.

With the community garden campus, the number of gardens will double to about 40 plots, offering a chance for recreation and education for adults and children alike. The campus will also feature the Landscape Idea Gardens, created by landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy, which provides visitors with landscaping and gardening ideas.

Slated to open in the summer of 2009, the campus hopes to be a location not only for learning but also for gathering and interaction.

The first phase of the master plan will be completed this summer, with an inaugural celebration Aug. 8, featuring artist James Turrell and the unique lighting showcase he created for the Palm House. Recipient of over 19 awards including the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundation fellowships, Turrell is acclaimed throughout the world for his artwork with light and space.

His one of a kind light installation was achieved through a $1 million donation from the Limited Brands Foundation and will illuminate and showcase the Palm House from dusk to dawn. The event will showcase the completion of two additions to the Palm House that includes two new 5,000-square-foot rooftop gardens as well as 10,000-square-feet of new event and conference space.

Already known as the only public botanical garden with a permanent Dale Chihuly collection, with the projected completion of the first-phase projects set around January 2010, the new additions are going to make the Franklin Park Conservatory one of the most unique and beautiful of its kind in the country.

For more information on the Franklin Park Conservatory, the Growing to Green project, or the
renovations, visit www.fpconservatory.org.