Secrest Arboretum is the Ohio State University's primary research arboretum, and contains over 2,000 native and introduced species and cultivars of trees, shrubs, and other plants. Planting began in 1905.[3] It was established in 1909 when Edmund Secrest set out the first planting for a proposed Forest Arboretum.
As of 2005, the arboretum contains the following Ohio champion trees: Giant Dogwood (Cornus controversa), Nikko Fir (Abies homolepis), Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmaniana), and Japanese Larch (Larix leptolepsis). The arboretum also boasts a collection of Dawn Redwood trees, a fast-growing and deciduous conifer and the only remaining species of Metasequoia, and the Garden of Roses of Legend and Romance, which features about 500 varieties of roses.