Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum

This is a neat feature in a neighborhood/area with a lot of character. There is a welcome board/kiosk in a parking lot located across the street from the historic Crestview school, now home to Indianola Informal school. The school seems to use the lot at times when in session, so it may be easier to locate parking here during off times. There is plentiful street parking in the area, however. The kiosk is still well worth a visit even if you need to walk to it, as it contains interesting information about the arboretum plus maps to the suggested walking paths (the maps are also available on their website). It's relaxing to stroll around the neighborhoods, looking at the various identified tree and enjoying the character of the houses and additional features. This is a nice project - it's great that folks put so much effort into this!

I drive by this every once in awhile, and finally decided to stop and check it out. As the name suggests, it is an "urban arboretum." Essentially, they have maps to guide you to interesting flora in the neighborhood. There is a parking lot across from the school (built about 100 years ago, and architecturally interesting.) There are signboards with maps of walking routes, and you can go online and print them out too.The area is full of interesting species, and of course the nearby ravines are cool in themselves. My brother, an urban planner and arborist, would have loved this. Walk the neighborhood taking in the quaint houses, and checking out different trees. Mainly there are lots of varieties of maples and oaks, of course, but there are shagbark hickories, black walnuts, pawpaws, etc.I'm glad there are so many people working to preserve the trees and ravines. For more info on the ravines you can check out http://www.friendsoftheravines.org/