Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
Situated among 6,000 acres of parkland within 41 parks and recreational facilities, residents of Westerville are no strangers to green spaces around the city. One local spot offers a hidden world that feels right out of a fantasy novel.
Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District Metro Parks’ Inniswood Metro Gardens, north of 270-I and off of South Hempstead Road, welcomes roughly 650,000 visitors annually with its ever-changing landscape that blankets the 123-acre nature preserve.
Aside from the foliage and miles of trails, Inniswood offers various educational and entertainment activities as well as volunteer opportunities. Over the past 50 years, the Gardens have grown and changed, welcoming more horticulture groups and organizations as well as incorporating unique plants and sub-gardens to keep the space fresh and welcoming.
With new leadership and changes in the works, Inniswood is excited to turn a new leaf and welcome new and returning visitors for years to come.
A budding future
Thanks to a donation of land from Grace and Mary Innis in 1972, the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks developed and officially opened the Inniswood Metro Gardens to the public in 1984 with the first two sub-gardens, the Rose Garden and the Rock Garden.
Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
As one of Inniswood’s most recognizable sub-gardens – due to its location near the entrance and its large blueish-grey Rose Terrace – the Rose Garden has welcomed visitors for roughly 40 years. With those decades has come a fair amount of wear and tear to the Terrace and benches surrounding the beautiful roses, leading to the Inniswood Fund of Metro Parks at the Columbus Foundation stepping in, along with a $10,000 private donation through the Inniswood Garden Society to cover the cost of its renovations.
Other than some lumber and stone upgrades and general maintenance, the design of the Rose Garden will be mostly the same. But when the updates are completed, which Public Gardens Manager Bryan Knowles hopes will be sometime this summer, the Rose Terrace will have an all-new wooden framework. Other planned upgrades include new stone benches.
Knowles and his team also aided with an irrigation system update in 2020 and are updating the plant-identifying plaques found all around the park. This year, Inniswood Metro Gardens will replace an estimated 40 trees and shrubs through Inniswood Garden Society donations.
Watch your step
Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
Since joining the team in 2019, one of Knowles’s goals was to reduce conflicts between the people and the plants.
“Because people don’t understand that this is a museum, many of them may not understand how impactful soil compaction and stepping on plants and stuff can be, so they’ll be in areas that they really shouldn’t be in,” he says.
Several areas have man-made paths that help visitors reach areas faster, but sometimes harm the wildlife on or around them. Knowles says the proposed changes to the layout are to make accessing each corner of the garden easy without walking across flower beds.
“There was so much foot traffic in (some areas), most of the stuff was dead or had erosion problems, so, (adapting it) gives them a path to get to where they wanted to be to take the picture without being detrimental to the health of the plants,” he says. “There is this really nice garden back here that didn’t get a lot of visitation, so we’re going to be redoing this garden this year too, and it’s going to have a path through it so you’ll be able to explore this area a little bit more.”
For families, forever
Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
The Sisters’ Garden, which was dedicated in 2002, honors the memory of Grace and Mary Innis and is designed to celebrate nature and childhood inquisitiveness. It houses several children’s spaces, including a treehouse and a secret garden. This year, the Inniswood Garden Society will renovate and repair a small historical farmhouse, ‘Grannie’s House,’ located in the garden. In the future, Inniswood Metro Gardens hopes to add a shaded structure within the Sisters’ Garden.
With plenty of updates and upgrades down the road, Knowles says the Inniswood team hopes to continue welcoming visitors back for another 50 years.
Man Behind the Garden
Before becoming the Public Gardens Manager, Bryan Knowles earned a wildlife management degree from Michigan State University.
He eventually joined the Metro Parks team as a part-time park ranger at the Prairie Oaks Metro Park, and during the past 21 years, Knowles has worked at five parks throughout the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system, including Inniswood.
Knowles isn’t alone in his outdoor adventures as his wife and son also work in the Parks. His wife, Kerry, is a park manager at Prairie Oaks and his son, Ethan, works in the IT department.
Garden Myths and Facts
Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
While Inniswood is a part of the Metro Parks family, it has some different rules since it is a botanical garden. For example, dogs are not permitted.
MYTH: Bikes, scooters and other vehicles as well as food are allowed in the Gardens.
To help preserve the diverse and sometimes delicate foliage of the space, it is important that visitors do not use wheeled transportation or bring in any items that could harm the wildlife, including food. Activities such as walking, running and other similar physical activities are welcomed.
MYTH: You can cut and take home the flowers.
Due to the Gardens’ botanical garden status, much of the plant life on the grounds are covered under federal patent laws that restrict the removal of any florals. However, visitors are welcome to enjoy them from a distance or pick up small things such as leaves off the ground.
FACT: You can see wild animals on the grounds.
In addition to the thousands of plants, you will also find a wide variety of fauna that call the grounds home. Visitors and workers have spotted animals ranging from frogs to larger animals like owls.
FACT: You can enjoy more than just flowers in the Gardens.
While there are many quiet spaces to enjoy throughout the Gardens, there are also plenty of activities hosted on the grounds. The spring and summer months welcome various educational and volunteer groups as well as weddings, field trips and those looking for great photo backdrops.
Don’t Miss This!
Bryan Knowles and Inniswood Metro Gardens
- Art exhibit in the Innis House (changes monthly)
- Plant Sale: May 3, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. & May 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Craft and Plant: May 11, 1-3 p.m.
- Summer Children's Programs: Tuesdays and Wednesdays in June, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Inniswood Garden Society Annual Meeting: June 1, 1-4 p.m.
- Wellness: Tai Chi: June 14, 10 a.m.
- Free Concerts at 5 p.m.: June 15, July 20, August 17
For more information visit www.inniswood.org.
Rachel Karas is the lead editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rkaras@cityscenemediagroup.com.
