About Us

Secrest Arboretum is a 110-acre botanical garden managed by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES). It supports the mission of CFAES by serving as a living resource for education, research, and outreach to Ohio’s horticulture industry and residents. Secrest’s documented plant collection features over 3,500 different types of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials, exhibiting the diverse range of plants suitable for outdoor cultivation in Northeast Ohio.

The gardens are open to visitors every day of the year from dawn to dusk. Parking and admission are free of charge. Visitors can enjoy an extensive system of paved walkways, colorful display gardens, ample seating and picnic sites, and a hillside slide and play area known as the Adventure Garden. Other special features include the 200-seat John Streeter Garden Amphitheater, Gayle’s Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden, and Skip and Letty’s Water Garden, home to a school of goldfish and other aquatic creatures. The Secrest Welcome and Education Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and houses Secrest’s administrative offices, classrooms, and public restrooms. Portable restrooms are located throughout the gardens.

We invite you to enjoy our new Coneflower (Echinacea) Trial Garden featuring over 100 varieties of this popular, summer-flowering perennial.  AConeflower research at Secrest Arboretum kaleidoscope of flower colors from white and pink to fiery shades of orange, red and yellow demonstrate the proliferation of Coneflower breeding over the last two decades.  Over 300 individual plants grace the north end of the former Rose Garden as part of a 3-year evaluation to determine the best coneflowers for our area.  Horticultural traits such as winter survival, growth habit, flower quality, disease resistance and pollinator visitation will be recorded and published as a service to our visitors, students and industry collaborators.  Secrest Arboretum has a rich history of plant evaluation and we are pleased to kick off a new era of relevant, practical research! 

Hybrid Witchhazel