The Kingwood Center Gardens is a historic site with a house, Kingwood Hall, gardens and greenhouses located in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Ohio, United States. Located midway between Columbus and Cleveland via Interstate 71, it is part of Northeast Ohio region in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau. The city ...

. Mr. Charles Kelley King began making his fortune when he was hired by the Ohio Brass Company as its first electrical engineer in 1893. He led Ohio Brass into new ventures, particularly the manufacture of electrical fittings for railroads and trolleys. Mr. King was responsible for much of the company's success and he eventually became president and chairman of the Board of Ohio Brass. Mr. King was married and divorced twice, and had no children. The house and grounds were built in 1926 for King and his second wife, Luise, with grounds designed by Cleveland landscape architecture firm Pitkin and Mott. One year after his death in 1952, the 47-acre estate opened as a public garden to a private foundation that continues to operate Kingwood Center today. On November 7, 1976, it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Current

In 1953 the estate became a public garden. The gardens are now open daily from 10am to 7pm. Admission is $8 per person (children 12 and under are free), and free for members and volunteers. Estate grounds currently include the following collections: * Cacti and Succulent House -

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

s. * Daylily and Iris Collection - about 200

daylily A daylily or day lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae. Despite the common name, it is not in fact a lily. Gardening enthusiasts and horticulturists have long ...

cultivars, 54

Siberian iris ''Iris sibirica'' ( commonly known as Siberian iris or Siberian flag), is a species in the genus ''Iris''. It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial, from Europe (including France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, H ...

cultivars, 50 cultivars of tall bearded

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

, and 10 cultivars of reblooming tall bearded

. * Herb Garden (1977) - a

knot garden A knot garden is a garden of formal design in a square frame, consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander, marjoram, thyme, southernwood, lemon balm, hyssop, costmary, acanthus, mallow, chamomile, rosemary ...

in six sections, of

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

s in

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

and

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

edging. * Historic Garden (1926) - a sequence of connected "rooms" enclosed by hedges, each built around a central feature such as a sunken garden, a small circular pool, a swimming pool, or a bronze sculpture of Pan. * Parterre -

edging filled with seasonal

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

s and annuals. * Perennial Garden - over 300 varieties of perennial plants in large borders. * Rose Garden (1977) - nearly 500

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s, mainly hybrid teas and grandifloras, as well as a new section of David Austin roses. * Terrace (1994) - seasonal beds of

s and annuals, with a variety of shrubs. * Tropical House - tropical plants, including ''

Acalypha hispida ''Acalypha hispida'', the chenille plant, is a flowering shrub which belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae, the subfamily Acalyphinae, and the genus ''Acalypha''. ''Acalypha'' is the fourth largest genus of the family Euphorbiaceae, and contains ...

'' (chenille plant), ''

Acalypha wilkesiana ''Acalypha wilkesiana'', common names copperleaf, Jacob’s coat and Flamengueira, is an evergreen shrub growing to high and across. It has a closely arranged crown, with an erect stem and many branches. Both the branches and the leaves are cov ...

'Obovata Cristata' ''(copperleaf), ''

Anthurium ''Anthurium'' (; Schott, 1829) is a genus of about 1,000Mantovani, A. and T. E. Pereira. (2005)''Anthurium'' (section ''Urospadix''; subsection ''Flavescentiviridia'').''Rodriguesia'' 56(88), 145–60. species of flowering plants, the largest g ...

'' (flamingo flower), ''

Codiaeum ''Codiaeum'' is a genus of plants under the family Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. ...

'' (croton), ''

Cordyline fruticosa ''Cordyline fruticosa'' is an evergreen flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. The plant is of great cultural importance to the traditional animistic religions of Austronesian and Papuan peoples of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Isla ...

'Fire Brand' ''(ti tree), '' Dichorisandra warscewicziana'' (blue ginger), ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending in ...

deltoidea'' (mistletoe fig), ''

Jatropha integerrima ''Jatropha integerrima'', commonly known as peregrina or spicy jatropha, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, link ...

'' (spicy jatropha), ''

Justicia brandegeeana ''Justicia brandegeeana'', the Mexican shrimp plant, shrimp plant or false hop, is an evergreen shrub in the genus '' Justicia'' of the acanthus family Acanthaceae, native to Mexico, and also naturalized in Florida. It grows to 1 m tall (rarely ...

'' (shrimp plant), and ''

Rivina humilis ''Rivina humilis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Petiveriaceae. It was formerly placed in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. It can be found in the southern United States, the Caribbean, Central America, and Tropics, tropical S ...

'' (blood berry). * Woodland - currently under development.

Current

See also