The Communal Garden: Making the Most of Winter

The Communal Garden: Making the Most of Winter is a gardening workshop at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens on Tuesday, November 10, from 6 PM to 7:30 PM. It's a free session, and the whole thing is led by Liv White.

If you've spent the summer with your hands in the dirt, you know that November in Columbus is when the momentum usually stops. This workshop is designed to keep it going. It covers the transition from the end-of-year clean-up and maintenance—the part where you're putting the garden to bed—through to the planning phase, where you start thinking about next year's plantings and getting your seeds started. It's less about what you're doing right now and more about how you set yourself up for a better spring.

Liv White brings a background in sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and research to the table. She's vocal about food sovereignty, native plants, and building community connections, so the conversation will likely lean toward growing things that make sense for the local environment and the people around it.

The venue itself is a good place to be when the weather turns. The Conservatory spans about 13 acres and includes the main building, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation Children's Garden, and the Grand Mallway, with botanical biomes, lush gardens, horticulture and art exhibitions, and a collection of glass works by Dale Chihuly on display. The John F. Wolfe Palm House, which dates back to 1895, is one of its most iconic features. Right next to it is the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Community Garden Campus, a four-acre site with an apiary, a rose pavilion, a berry house, 40 community garden plots, a demonstration kitchen, and a Live-Fire Cooking Theater. The workshop runs from 6 PM to 7:30 PM on Tuesday, November 10, and it's free.