Ogden Botanical Garden — Attraction in Valparaiso

This is a lovely park near downtown Valparaiso. The plantings are at their most vibrant from spring through late fall. Winter offers an opportunity to enjoy the framework of the gardens, and to enjoy the winter sunshine, and admire the shadows cast by the bare trees. Tucked into a corner of the park is a small, very well maintained Japanese garden, with streams, bridges and a wooden tea house with seating inside. The gazebo is nice any time of year. The paths are well maintained, and would accommodate a wheelchair or stroller. For those who can venture off paved paths, there are open mowed grass areas. This park adjoins Forest Park, which has more parking spaces, 2 shelters, picnic tables, a playground, and an open grassy area. When we visited these parks in December there were a few other dogs being walked. Most owners appear to pick up after their pets, and the parks are kept free of litter. Dog poo bags and a trash can...

It's always a fun place for a walk! It's also a popular place to find painted rocks! As part of the world-wide Kindness Rocks Project, rock painters often leave them in this park to be found, thus sharing happiness and smiles. You are generally welcome to keep or rehide the rock, and a found post to the Facebook group on the back of the rock is always appreciated. I am not an artist, but the picture is of some rocks I recently painted. It's a fun activity for people of all ages, kids to adults. Hopefully you'll find one or more on your next walk through Ogden Gardens! It's a...

Beautiful free garden/park area to walk around and admire the beautiful flowers! They have a bunch of scenic photo opportunities and so many flowers that were blooming so perfectly when we visited today. A little smaller than it looked online. We had a fun time enjoying nature, looking at the mini waterfalls, and looking at the koi pond. I did notice the water is fairly dirty and I wish someone can take better care of the koi in the pond. I see the shadows of color but they are hard to see. The pipes I noticed are older too. Let’s get those fish a better cleaner...