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Garfield Park Conservatory offers a wide range of engaging and fun programs for all ages. Click on the links above to get specific information on upcoming programs and events. Still have questions?
Call us at 317-327-7183 or Call Customer Service at 317-327-PARK
Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to get more updates on Programs and Events.
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Garfield Park Master Gardener - Guided Conservatory Tours
2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month @ 11 AM - Included in that days admissions fee
Conservatory Tours
Month 1
Gnome Away from Home
Friday, March 21st - Sunday, April 6th, 2025
Tues-Sat: 10 am - 5 pm | Sun: 1-5 pm
Ages: ALL Fee: $6 per person | $14 per family
Family Admission is 2 adults max (18 or older is adult)
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This year's theme is not about WHERE in the world, but WHEN! The Gnomes are hopping on a time machine!
This spring break garden gnomes from far and wide will gather at the Conservatory! See this whimsical display of garden gnomes and try to spot them all! Contact the staff for information about loaning a gnome to be part of the display. We will start taking loaner gnomes after Valentine's Day. Remember the Conservatory is closed on Mondays.
Jungle Tales
Tuesday, April 9th, 2025 | 10-11 am
Ages: 2-5 Fee: $6 (includes 1 adult admission)
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Bring your preschooler to this program with a focus on the natural world. Join us for a different nature-related story, activity and craft each month. Registration required.
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Cacao, the Magical Bean
Saturday, April 12th, 2025 | 11 am - 12 pm
Ages: 16 and up Fee: $10 per person
​Join as we discover the history of chocolate, just as we approach one of the biggest holidays for chocolate sales, Easter! Learn more about how chocolate can be grown to scale in harmony with it’s rainforest home and help the peoples’ that grow it. We will sample different grades of chocolate and learn about fair trade chocolate products.​
Visitor Appreciation Day
Sunday, April 13th, 2025 | 1-5 pm
Ages: All Fee: FREE
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In appreciation of all our wonderful visitors and supporters, admission to the Conservatory is FREE on this day. Enjoy our unique tropical experience, including waterfalls, orchids, animals and more - all for free!
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Central Indiana Orchid Society
Annual Orchid Show
Saturday, April 26th - Sunday, April 27th, 2025
Sat & Sun: 10 am - 5 pm
Ages: ALL Fee: $6 per person | $14 per family
Family Admission is 2 adults max (18 or older is adult)
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This weekend, the Garfield Conservatory will be filled with displays of blooming orchids from across the Midwest. Come check out this annual event presented by the Central Indiana Orchid Society. Orchids will also be available for sale.
Month 2
Herb Society of Central Indiana
Spring Herbal Gifts
Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 | 10-11:30 am
Ages: 16 and up Fee: $6 per person
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Join the Herb Society of Central Indiana for a fun class on making gifts with herbs, perfect for Mother's Day or anyone else that needs a spring pick-me-up. You will also have the opportunity to learn about herbs you can grow yourself throughout the season. There will be recipes, handouts and herbal snacks. Pre-registration required.
Critter Chat
Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 | 11 am
Ages: All Fee: FREE | Drop-in
​Drop by Blake’s Garden to meet one of our resident critters. No registration needed. Program will be held in classroom if weather is inclement.
Mother's Day Herbal Tea
Saturday, May 10th, 2025 | 11 am - 12:30 pm
Ages: 10 and up Fee: $15 per person
​What could be more perfect for Mother's Day than having a warm, flavorful cup of tea or herbal tea with someone you love the most. And not all of us have mothers, so bring anyone closest to you honestly, or come by yourself!
Join us as we learn about the benefits of herbal teas. We will have a presentation on the history of tea, more specifically herbal tea, or tisanes, as they are properly referred to; on herbs to grow to make your own herbal teas and what health benefits they might provide, as well as how to pick out the highest quality boxed herbal teas at the store. Participants will get to make their own herbal tea sample from herbs in the garden or sample different store bought herbals teas, whichever they choose.
Our classroom will also be decorated in the traditional style of an English High Tea, just a little earlier in the day than traditional time and with a focus on herbal teas instead. There will be light snacks with the tea. A tea selection will be provided at the beginning, but at the end of the program, you will have an opportunity to make your own to take with you.​
Jungle Tales
Tuesday, May 13th, 2025 | 10-11 am
Ages: 2-5 Fee: $6 (includes 1 adult admission)
​Bring your preschooler to this program with a focus on the natural world. Join us for a different nature-related story, activity and craft each month. Registration required.
Master Gardener Plant Sale
Saturday, May 17th, 2025 | 9 am - 12 pm
Ages: ALL Fee: No entry fee for sale
This is not just a sale! In addition to annual and perennial plants for sale, the Master Gardeners will also be on hand to give advice and answer all of your gardening questions. Admission to sale is free, plant prices vary.
Garden Storytime
Friday, May 23rd, 2025 | 10 am
Ages: ALL (2-8 targeted) Fee: FREE | Drop-in
Join us in Blake’s Children’s Garden as we learn about nature through a story reading. After the reading children are encouraged to stay and explore the garden. This program is free and open to anyone wishing to attend. The target age range is 2-8 years old.
Program will be moved into the classroom in case of inclement weather.
Little Green Thumbs
Wednesday, May 28th, 2025 | 10-11 am
Ages: 2-5 Fee: $6​
Bring your little gardener to get their hands dirty in the Children's Garden. Participants will have the opportunity to plant, care for, and harvest crops in the Garden. Come to one, or come to all. Registration required.
Budding Gardeners
Thursday, May 29th, 2025 | 10-11 am
Ages: 6-9 Fee: $10
Are you interested in exposing your child to the wonders of gardening at an early age, but don’t necessarily have the space or time to do it yourself? This is the perfect program for you. Bring your child ages 6-9 years old to a one-hour class, once a month, where they can get their hands dirty and feel accomplished growing and harvesting their own food. Join staff naturalists as they share their love of gardening, from a young age, with your children!
Butterfly Planters
Saturday, May 31st, 2025 | 2-3 pm
Ages: 4 and up Fee: $25 per planter
Butterflies are an important part of our local ecosystem. They pollinate many of the plants other wildlife depend on for food and they pollinate a lot of what is in our vegetable gardens. Help support your local butterflies, by making a small rectangular planter box full of butterflies' favorite plants. We will plant flowers for pollination and host plants for caterpillars. Something for every part of the butterfly life cycle.
Everyone is welcome to join in on this program. Program fee is per planter. You can make one planter for your family or make individual planters. These are decent sized planters, so you may only want one. Program fee includes: planter, soil, plugs (plants) and labels. Conservatory admission for one person also included in program fee.
Month 3
Bonsai Show
Saturday and Sunday, June 7 & 8, 2025
Saturday: 10am-5pm, Sunday: 1-5pm
Fee: $6 per person, $14 per family
(2 adults max per family)
Join the Indianapolis Bonsai Club as they showcase their unique bonsai specimens throughout the Conservatory. Club members will be available to answer your questions, and vendors will have items for sale.
Critter Chat
Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 11 am
Ages: All | Fee: Free | Drop-in
Drop by Blake’s Garden to meet one of our resident critters. No registration needed. Program will be held in classroom if weather is inclement.
Fermentation Station: Kimchi
Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 11:00 am-12:00pm
Ages: 10 & up | Fee: $10
(children must be comfortable using a knife to chop vegetables)
Come explore the kitchen alchemy of fermentation! Learn how to take cabbage, daikon and carrot from harvest through preparation and lactic acid fermentation, resulting in delicious, spicy kimchi! Fee includes one jar of kimchi, picked up the following week when fermentation is complete. Limit 10 participants; pre-registration required.
Jungle Tales
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 | 10-11 am
Ages: 2-5 | Fee: $6 per child
Bring your preschooler to a program with a focus on the natural world. There will be a story, activities, crafts and so much more. Registration required; space is limited.
Feed Your Flock: Raising Bugs to Keep Your Chickens Happy
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 1pm
Ages: Adult | Fee: TBD
supplies will include a lidded bucket,
as well as some black soldier fly larva.
Turn your food waste into high-protein snacks for your chickens! Join us to make your own black soldier fly larva farm. Materials and starter larva included. Registration required; space is limited to ten particpants.
Drop-in Plant Coaching
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | Time: 11 am -12 pm
Ages: ALL | Fee: Free (drop-in)
Drop in for pro tips on how to care for your new veggie plants! Little Green ThumbsDate: Wednesday, June 25, 2025Time: 11 am -12 pmAges: 2-5Fee: $6 per childBring your little gardener to get their hands dirty in the Children's Garden. Participants will have the opportunity to plant, care for, and harvest crops in the Garden. Come to one, or come to all. Registration required.
Garden Storytime
Friday, June 20, 2025 | 10 am
Ages: All (Geared towards ages 2-8) | Fee: Free | Drop-in
Join us in Blake’s Children’s Garden as we learn about nature through a story reading. After the reading children are encouraged to stay and explore the garden. This program is free and open to anyone wishing to attend. The target age range is 2-8 years old.Program will be moved into the classroom in case of inclement weather.
Houseplants Gone Wild!
Saturday, June 21, 2025 | 1-2 pm
Ages: Adult | Fee: $15
Includes tea and cookies, as well as a planting from a larger cutting of pothos or monstera From pothos to monsteras, our beloved houseplants come to us from all corners of the globe. Join us for a conservatory tour showcasing massive specimens of favorite houseplants, and then share a pot of tea as we explore the Victorian origins of the houseplant craze and catch a glimpse of household greenery in their native habitats. We’ll finish by planting cuttings from our wild-sized plants for you to take home! Limit 20 people.
Little Green Thumbs
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 |11 am -12 pm
Ages: 2-5 | Fee: $6 per child
Bring your little gardener to get their hands dirty in the Children's Garden. Participants will have the opportunity to plant, care for, and harvest crops in the Garden. Come to one, or come to all. Registration required.
Budding Gardeners
Thursday, June 26, 2025 | 11 am -12 pm
Ages: 6-9 | Fee: $8 per child
Are you interested in exposing your child to the wonders of gardening at an early age, but don’t necessarily have the space or time to do it yourself? This is the perfect program for you. Bring your child ages 6-9 years old to a one-hour class, once a month, where they can get their hands dirty and feel accomplished growing and harvesting their own food. Join staff naturalists as they share their love of gardening, from a young age, with your children!
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