The Will Rogers Gardens offer beautiful vistas throughout its rambling trails and walkways. Dense landscaping provides a riot of color throughout the year.

The Will Rogers Horticultural Gardens offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy one of the most enchanting parks in Oklahoma.

These historic gardens comprise the northern side of Will Rogers Park, one of the city's oldest park properties.  The Gardens are home to the Ed Lycan Conservatory, the Charles E. Sparks Rose Garden, the Margaret Annis Boys Arboretum and the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center, home to the Oklahoma City Council of Garden Clubs.

The Will Rogers Gardens are operated and maintained by the Botanical Gardens Division of the Parks & Recreation Department.  While at the Gardens, visitors can wander along winding paths where botanical delights await at every turn. Inside the garden walls, visitors are surrounded by thousands of roses, irises, azaleas, daylilies and peonies, among other colorful flowers and plants.  

The Charles E. Sparks Rose Garden features over 800 individual rose bushes. The Garden is a popular location for weddings and photo shoots.

The historic Ed Lycan Conservatory houses the largest cacti and succulent collection in Oklahoma. The conservatory is a historic Lloyd & Burnham greenhouse.  It was originally erected in Douglass Park in 1924 and relocated to its current location in the Will Rogers Gardens in 1936. The conservatory is currently closed for renovation.  

The Charles E. Sparks Rose Garden is a formal rose garden with more than 85 different varieties of roses in bloom from April through October. Horticulture staff at the Will Rogers Gardens work with gardeners and horticulturalists from around the country to test new rose hybrids for their viability in Oklahoma climates.  The rose garden is surrounded by two lakes and is adjacent to the Margaret Annis Boys Arboretum.  The Rose Garden can be rented for weddings and other events from May through September. 

For rental inquiries, call Miss Patty McDoulett at misspatty.mcdoulett@okc.gov.  For more information about the rose garden, including a list of our rose varieties, please see our Rose Garden page.

The Margaret Annis Boys Arboretum sits on 10 acres of pristine park land and features hundreds of varieties of trees, including Oklahoma native species as well as specimens rarely found in the state. The oldest trees in the arboretum were planted by famed horticulturalist Henry Walter in the 1930s. The arboretum was renamed the Margaret Annis Boys Arboretum during a dedication ceremony on September 24, 2009.  Thanks to a generous gift from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, the arboretum will undergo extensive renovation work in 2010.

The Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center hosts multiple garden-related events and club meetings throughout the year.  It also hosts its own series of FREE EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS for both the casual backyard landscaper to the expert greenthumb.  For a complete listing of classes, please visit our Classes & Workshops page, or download our current workshop brochure HERE.  The Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center is also available for rental for educational meetings and exhibitions. For more information, call 943-0827.

Rentals Several facilities at Will Rogers Park and Gardens are available for rental.  To rent the rose garden or Will Rogers Senior Center for weddings or receptions, call the Will Rogers Senior Center at 942-4339 or email Patty McDoulett at misspatty.mcdoulett@okc.gov.  For inquiries about the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center, call 943-0827 or email louis.scott@okc.gov. For inquiries regarding the Will Rogers Park Amphitheatre, call the OKC Parks & Recreation Department at 297-3882.

Volunteering  The Will Rogers Gardens is pleased to have the ongoing support of countless volunteers who assist with plant maintenance, events and other special projects.  Individuals and groups wishing to volunteer are welcome to call 943-0827 to find out what projects are available.