Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken Gardens

Garfield Park is so beautiful and big! You can walk around the whole park to get from one place to another, but I visited on a really hot and humid day, so I drove to the different spots around the park.
Our first stop was the playground. Yes, they have a playground here with «fun things to do» (so sayeth the child), as opposed to boring adult things like just sitting and enjoying nature. The playground is separated into a few different areas, with the big playground structure in one area, then another little playground for young kids, then an area with swings. A short walk away is a beautiful pagoda, with shaded areas and picnic benches underneath. The park was fine, but my gripe is that the playground area was hella dirty, and there was trash everywhere. While we were there, some people came and picked up some of the trash, but even they didn’t get all of the litter. It was gross. Three stars for the playground. The rest of the park makes up for this part, though.
Our next stop was the sunken garden, which has fountains and grass and pretty flowers. If you bring kids with you, make them aware of the paths on the grass so that they don’t step on the flowers. Some crazy — er, I mean, PASSIONATE — woman came running at us, flailing her arms and screaming that we need to walk on the path and not on the flowers. Which, like, we totally were and we weren’t going to step on the flowers, geez. So to save everyone the embarrassment: walk on the path, not the flowers!
We were going to visit the botanical garden, but they charge a $ 1 admission. And I didn’t have cash. So.
There was so much more to the park that we didn’t visit but drove by, like the tennis courts, swimming pool and water park, bike and walking trails, bridges. There is a lot to do and see here.

Garfield Park has become one of our favorite places to spend our time, we have grown roots and feel very comfortable there! The sunken gardens are breath taking, get up early on a Saturday or Sunday morning with your coffee tumbler in tow and pop down on the veranda and just enjoy the peacefulness of the moment!
Awesome stuff!

For only $ 2 a person you can experience a serene, nature driven and smelly good peace. I opted to do the self guided tour with the info pamphlet and learned some pretty neat things about the rainforest that I didn’t know before. I sat in the peaceful environment using some yoga breathing tips to help release and relax for even just a few mins. The outdoor area is free and perfect for walking and picnicking.

Garfield Park Conservatory is a hidden gem tucked away in one of Indy’s urban residential neighborhoods. We wanted to visit as they had a gnome display and scavenger hunt in March 2016. Check their website for other events!
The variety of plants and water features inside are lovely! Quite warm as expected, so dress accordingly.
We noticed that many of the plants are fruit bearing or offer edibles such as cardamom, cacao, and pomegranate. The fun gnome scavenger hunt was a nice touch that we enjoyed. They have a few creatures in terrarium tanks along with a cichlid aquarium. Younger kids visiting seemed to love it, would make for an educational outing. Enjoyed watching the two koi ponds and waterfall.
While we appreciated our visit, be aware that the conservatory is not huge and the sunken gardens are nice but not much to look at in March. Would return to see more flowers and fountains in warmer months. Small fee for entrance to the conservatory but the sunken gardens are free. Selected plants, some house plants, offered for sale near the entry doors — beautiful, healthy-​looking and at good prices!

A beautiful spot in Indy to sit back and relax while enjoying the beautiful scenery. The Sunken Gardens’ fountains and flowers along with the random hammocks beckon you to relax. While most of the area in the park is in the sun, trees lining the path ways offer some nice shade. I saw several yoga classes taking place on the lawn along with people walking the paths and enjoying a book on the nearby benches. A perfect place to come and relax!

This truly is a little piece of treasure on the Southside of Indy! It’s $ 2 admission per person. Once you walk in there’s so many tropical trees, plants and flowers to admire. We were partial to the koi fish; each one looked different in colors! There’s a tree with cocoa pods and a banana tree. You can even walk underneath a miniature waterfall. For its size and the price it’s really not bad to take a stroll through the building. You can also see the different angles outside of the Sunken Garden, which really makes your photographs practically authentic. One last tip that I’ll put in my review, it’s VERY warm inside so I recommend going in the winter or spring.

nice park. great place to relax or bring a picnic. we where in town to go to the zoo and decided to check it out. glad we did and the inside part is well worth the 1 dollar so don’t miss it. We spent about an hour but that’s because I have to take pics of Everything … it was a good place to play with my camera and the background would make nice formal pics.
this was last Sept 2014 I gather the price as went up to 2 dollars. still worth it.

I checked out the Garfield Park Conservatory for a potential tour for a meeting I’m planning. It’s very nice, and the staff seem knowledgeable. I could tell that in January, when our group is in town, it will be a welcome break from the cold. Well-​kept and tended botanical garden. The only problem I could see for our group is that we’d have to break up into two groups of 20 or so, and there’s really nowhere for the other group to stand while waiting. I’d come back for a $ 2 tour as a break in winter though!

This place is so beautiful, i’m from indy and only visited for the first time in my 30’s! Sunken Garden is gorgeous and meticulously landscaped. Also took my 6 month old to their Children’s garden to pick harvest veges. Great free events and programs

Gorgeous gardens! Outside and inside are both beautiful, great little spot to take a breath and relax.

Garfield Park is a pleasant surprise on the south side of downtown. The conservancy houses a lot of unique tropical plants which visitors can view for a minimal $ 2 fee. The sunken garden is truly a feast for the eyes. It feels European-​inspired and is an ideal place for a stroll or a picnic. There is no admittance fee for the sunken gardens.

What a beautiful spot! This would be a great place to bring a packed lunch, bring out-​of-​town friends or just take a walk with a good book. The conservatory is beautiful. Not excessively large, but you could easily spend a decent half hour in there. It’s only $ 2, too, which is really nice. They have a few benches inside so you could stay longer, watching the waterfall and fish!
If you take a walk behind the sunken gardens there is a bridge to another park with a huge covered picnic area and further back, a large playground. We spent about 3 hours there in total!

Just gets better and better. Beautiful; Shakespeare in the Park! Indianapolis Symphony in the Park! Art shows, a great pool, beautiful walking trails, enough space for a soccer game or cricket or baseball or just throwing a frisbee around. The library branch! The conservatory! The closest big park to downtown, Fountain Square, and Bates-​Hendricks.
There are all kinds of events here, including cultural festivals and art shows, besides the events I mentioned above. My husband’s family has lived a few miles south of here, in University Heights, since the 50s. We ourselves just moved here a couple of years ago, and one of the very first weekends we were here, attended a Mexican Festival in the park. It was a really fun experience: great food and music, and a nice-​sized crowd of people of all ages. And it went on until midnight or so!
More recently, we’ve attended the 4^th of July concert put on by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in the Ampitheatre, where we’ve been watching Shakespeare plays since the 80s. It was a very large crowd, and again, a lot of fun. We’ve held family birthday parties here for years.
20 years ago, this park had a reputation of being «unsafe». But as Fountain Square, Bates-​Hendricks and areas south have become gentrified, Garfield Park has become a great place once again. Check out the little café across Shelby Street from it, with its sidewalk seating and local art, as well as the bookstore next door to it. The whole area is a cool, vintage/​retro area and the park is the centerpiece.
My kids and I love to come and walk our dog here as well. Drive by any nice day and you’ll see a variety of people playing tennis. Very beautiful, kind of urban in a cosmopolitan way. You will certainly find something to do here that you enjoy.

That conservatory! Those pansies! Koi ponds! Pomegranate trees! There aren’t enough exclamation marks to show how excited I was to finally experience this southside nature haven. For $ 2 you can explore the lush gardens of the conservatory and learn how some of your favorite fruits grow. And, if you’re like me, bring the camera — this place is made for photos! Make certain to grab the brochure at the entry to lead you through the different types of plants on display.

Our Cycling club (CIBA) found Garfield Park to be an excellent place to start a family fun ride. The grounds and shelter were nice and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Well after a long Sunday of driving all over Tarnation, and losing my sunglasses (once again), I decided to drive down to the south side for a little respite from my first world crises. If you’ve never been here before, it’s only a couple miles south of fountain square on Shelby, and if you’re riding the cultural trail, just ride south to get there.
Now staying with my theme of running all over Indy like a decapitated chicken, I arrived around 4:30, just in time to take in what I could before both the garden and the conservatory closed at 5pm. Now I’ll come back to Garfield park another time and update this review.
The sunken gardens are literally a sunken plot of land directly to the West of the conservatory, and contain a wide expanse of lush green lawns, flower beds, and of course the fountains. It was such a welcoming feeling to feel the cool mist after such a strenuous, and frustrating day. There were many families walking around, taking photos, blocking mine, and just walking around in a general state of merriment. If you want a break from it all this place can be peaceful, but I imagine it can get crowded earlier afternoon.
After taking it all in at the gardens, I quickly paid $ 2 to walk through the conservatory. I stealthily moved from the lobby to the fountain area snapping as much as I could as I was on a time limit. In the front entry there is a beautiful gazebo that I could only assume is used for weddings. At the very rear (s end) of the main building there is a quiet little bench that you can sit at and enjoy the surroundings including a waterfall that you can actually walk under! Unfortunately, it was nearing 5 and It was getting close to the end of the day for Tarnation, so I started walking to my car. On the way out to the car I noticed a whole branch of the conservatory I didn’t visit! I quickly threw a temper tantrum, stomped my way to the center of the earth and was never seen or heard from again. (Well actually I left and got tacos but the former adds color.)
So in closing make sure you have plenty of time to visit both the gardens and the conservatory, bring the family or significant other, a camera, a picnic or a bad state of mind ready to be erased. You’ll be thanking yourself for the break later.

Hands down, my favorite place to go to relax and take a walk. The park is beautiful! Great playgrounds for the kids to let loose. We enjoy walking the dog here and having family picnics. We have also looked into renting the pagoda for the day and the price was surprisingly reasonable.

What a beautiful and well-​loved property. The Sunken Gardens are fabulous and the Conservatory is an oasis in the city. There’s plenty to do here – the pagoda, tons of grounds, monuments – all kinds of interesting things to see, grounds to cover and places to play.
I can’t believe property prices aren’t sky-​high along here. These folks have the best front yard in the city.

We love coming here. There’s 2 jungle gyms. One for big kids and one for little kids. There’s a cool mixture of people also. All nice and respectful. The park is big too. My mom was married in the pagoda. They have Pet Pride here also. The pool is nice in the summer also.
I visited the Garfield Park Conservatory today and OMG it was AMAZING!!! I saw a real Chocolate and Papaya tree! OMG it jus made me love this park even more!!! All I have to say is look at my pictures! Gorgeous!!!

Garfield Park is a diamond in the rough. I recently became aware of this Indianapolis treasure through our Unilocal community, and all the reviews pretty much speak for themselves. It’s amazing this and so many other great parks exist throughout Indy, but Garfield seems to be a notch above the rest.
The green-​house is beautiful, a great variety of tropic vegetation and landscaping — I enjoyed looking at and reading about all the different coffee bean trees they have growing. Worth the $ 1 admission. The garden has great water fountains and a pretty impressive environmental landscaping design with flowers and walking paths.
The rest of the park is vast and riddled with great spots for a picnic, pick-​up game of ultimate frisbee or softball, and has a great amphitheater for weekly concerts, which are totally FREE. There is a pool and a jungle-​gym playground for the kiddos, too, and I must say: the water slide looks pretty tantalizing… There is also a Civil War monument, honoring the Confederate soldiers who died in the Indianapolis prison camps.
I’m glad locations like Garfield Park exist in our city, this is a place that I will frequent all season long.