Ted Ensley Gardens

I often ride around Lake Shawnee and always ride through Ted Ensley Gardens. There is practically no way to accurately describe this area. It's a public park that has many flower beds and other plants and trees. It changes with the season. During the springtime tulips about. This is the only time they collect money to visit but donations are reasonable - about $5 I think.

The tulips come out and then summer flowers abound. There are many sidewalks, a water fountain, brides over water ways. There are several shelters where weddings often occur. Many photographers take their subjects there for great backgrounds for their subjects. At the crack of dawn, photographers are there as they say it is the best time to take photos due to the filtered light.

The former caretakers residence is still there but is converted into a gathering place with a small kitchenette and bathrooms.

Finally, this is now a great place to find Poke-a-mons. It is common to see people walking around in the gardens on the sidewalks with their cell phone upright looking for Poke-a-mons as there are...

Very cool place and it's free if your just walking and checking out the flowers. I'd post more pictures but the rest had my kiddos in them. They loved all the flowers, the nice walking paths and all the squirrels lol. You can also bring your furry friend on a leash! If you need some outdoors time, head here!! It's a great place to get outside and take some photos 😀 My kids also loved that they had a bathroom, water fountain and a little doggy water fountain too, so we had to hit that up before and after walking every possible option to make sure we saw all the "sights". We will...

We visited near the end of tulip time, and the gardens did not disappoint!! Amazing! The colors were vibrant and the gardens were well-maintained.As visitors to Topeka, we don't have a point of reference for the Gardens outside tulip season (April 4-22). But the trails, bridges, falls, and landscaping are all well done. And the beautiful lake is never far away.One downside -- not an indictment of the Gardens -- was the number of people climbing into the beds of tulips for photos, or sending their children into the flowers for photos. Unbelievable! Anything for a...