Bicentennial Park by the County Courthouse

• The Mudlark Garden Club chose landscaping around the courthouse as its long‑range project in 1970. In 1976, the Northwest corner block of the square was made into a Bicentennial Park by the county. Tom Stephens designed the fountain and the Mudlark Garden Club raised the money for the fish sculpture in the fountain designed by C.R. Schiefer of Martinsville, Indiana. A flower bed of spring flowering bulbs, annuals and perennials on the south side of the building is planted and maintained by the garden club. Perennials include Siberian iris, hostas, Japanese anemone, and daylilies.

Downtown Streetscape

• The principal architect for the Downtown Streetscape was Paul Kennon with the help of Michael Shirley CRSS Houston, Texas and Landscape Architect Michael Van Valkenburgh. The streetscape creates an inviting space that unifies the downtown. Washington Street is lined with Aristocrat pear trees which flower in the spring, reach medium height at maturity, and have limbs that grow upwards, providing for good street clearance. The Bar Harbor juniper at the intersection "neckouts" are ground hugging, low maintenance and salt resistant plant materials. The arching overhead lights on Fifth Street serve as an entry into the park. The theme of red steel is the same color and form as is used for the park structures. In Columbus, this color is called "Mill Race Red."
  

Walkway and Alleyways

• "There are these pockets of green throughout our downtown that link one area to another." - Dody Harvey, a volunteer tour guide for more than 25 years
• Kirr Marbach Sieco Walkway is an intimate alleyway, designed by local Landscape Architect John Anderson, and serves as a friendly pedestrian connector between the parking lot in the rear (between 6th and 7th streets) and Washington Street, the major downtown artery. Through a public-private partnership, two businesses, Kirr‑Marbach and Sieco paid for the design and construction, while the city continues to maintain the space. The design features white and pink flowering dogwood, Korean boxwood, English ivy, sweet woodruff and lilyturf.
• Friendship Way is another part of the Columbus Walkway Project to create pleasant thoroughfares that connect parking lots to busy Washington Street. The pedestrian improvement project designed by William A. Johnson links Washington Street and the Fourth Street parking lot. Citizens of Miyoshi, Japan, Columbus' sister city, contributed $35,000 through the purchase of named paving bricks. Clematis climb the metal trellises. Red hook-necked halide lights provide overhead lighting while a playful neon sculpture by world-renowned neon artist Cork Marchessi brightens the space with warm colors.
• The Indiana Bank Walkway continues to maintain its namesake green space from the parking area behind the building to Washington Street. Named bricks honoring 20-year employees of Home Federal line the walkway. Hostas and serviceberry line the walkway while amur maples buffer the building on Washington Street.
  

Hospice Serenity Gardens

• "The Serenity Gardens at the Hospice Center show people a little bit of what heaven is going to look like." - Gordon Elsbury, Elsbury's Greenhouses and Garden Center
• In January of 2004, the Hospice Inpatient Facility opened its doors. The facility offers a comfortable, homelike setting that is an alternative to a hospital, an assisted living or a nursing facility for persons nearing the end of life. In 2005, the Center added the Hospice Serenity Gardens as a place where patients, families, staff and volunteers can find peace and renewal. Families are invited to cut blooms from the Cutting Gardens for their loved one's rooms. Patients are even able to be rolled out of large sliding glass doors into the green space.
• The project was funded through private donors and local philanthropic foundations. Volunteers helped reduce costs. Featured is a shaded area called the Sanctuary Garden. There are four raised beds named the Scented, Butterfly, Hummingbird and Healing Gardens. Plants have been carefully selected to match the theme.
• Please note that, while open to the public, this is a quiet, contemplative space
• Located at 2626 East 17th Street.