Put Botanica on Your Family Bucket List

I grew up in Wichita, Kansas — and even lived within walking distance from Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, back in 2012. However, during that time, I only visited Botanica once or twice. And one of those visits was just to check that our extended family’s “memorial brick” was spelled correctly. Growing up, we went to Botanica a handful of times — at some point, I did some community services hours there during high school; and my family performed violin music at an event at least once. But long story short, Botanica has grown in some incredible ways since then, and I was so impressed on our recent visit! Here are some highlights.

Downing Children’s Garden

If you’re visiting with kids, of course this will be a highlight! I’d seen the Downing Children’s Garden before, but this is the first time Joss was able to appreciate it. (According to Wikipedia, it opened in 2011.) The whole area is over 1 acre, and apparently has 12 themed areas.

You enter it through a beautiful rainbow arch (which my photo failed to capture with any justice!), coming first to the Sunflower Plaza Fountain and the Cargill Children’s Farm.

In the farm, you’ll find several buildings that kids can wander in and out of. We particularly liked the honeybee building. Inside, there was a cozy place to read and a honeycomb wall you could crawl through.

From there, you’ll find a towering treehouse, a salamander stream with adorable sculptural elements, fairy houses, Monster Woods, a musical path, and so much more. Your kids could definitely spend hours here and still probably not see everything! There are so many interesting details, both large and small.

Koch Carousel Gardens

This is an area I hadn’t seen before. But there’s a large structure housing a beautifully restored carousel. The Botanica staff member told us the carousel had previously been at Wichita’s Joyland theme park, which closed permanently in the early 2000s. A single artist repainted all the horses before it was installed at Botanica, and they are just gorgeous! Of course, we had to ride it.

Just before you reach the carousel building, you’ll come to the massive sleeping troll statue. Be sure to step into his hand and pose for a picture! To the right of the troll statue and a little way down the path is a huge green lawn with an amphitheater (or two), where Botanica hosts concerts and other community events.

Butterfly House

I was excited to visit the butterfly house — and especially thrilled that it was included with admission. As expected, it was a peaceful respite. However, if your kids are not so keen on bugs, there’s an indoor area right next door (you pass through it when you exit the butterfly house). Here, you’ll find plenty of indoor activities for kids, like Magnatiles, art supplies, books, etc. There was also a friendly toad in an aquarium; kids were invited to draw small pictures of the toad and tape them to the walls.

The main ticketing building also has a Children’s Library with additional indoor activities. There’s a cute tree fort structure, cabin to play in — and it’s right next to the cafe area if you need a snack.

Chinese Garden of Friendship

This area would be a wonderful place to just sit and reflect for awhile, possibly if you’re not visiting with children! But kids, too, will no doubt enjoy the koi pond and friendly dragon sculpture. While we pretty much just walked through the garden, there is a ton of information about it on Botanica’s website, providing details about the sculptures, plants and other elements you’ll see here.

Origami in the Garden

This isn’t a permanent installation, but if you loved the Origami in the Garden exhibit that came to Tulsa Botanic Garden several months ago – you can see a different version of it at Botanica through Sept. 27, 2026. The origami-inspired sculptures are created by artists Jennifer and Kevin Box. It’s a colorful, whimsical and beautiful exhibit, and it was fun to see some pieces that hadn’t been on display in Tulsa — as well as some familiar favorites.

Botanica Admission

Well, those were some highlights, but I haven’t yet mentioned the train garden! Or the Shakespeare garden…you can see a complete list of gardens at botanica.org/gardens-and-collections

Botanica is open daily, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., as of June 2026. Adult general admission is $12; children, seniors and military are $10; Kids 2 and under get in free. Compared to some other attractions where we paid about $60 for just two people, including a child, it seemed very reasonable! Especially considering you could spend several hours here if you really wanted to see everything. We had other engagements so couldn’t spend as long as I would have liked.

It would also be worth it to check out their event calendar to see if anything extra-special is happening during your visit: botanica.org/botanica-events