Thurber House & Museum, Reading Garden

"Columbus is a town in which almost anything is likely to happen and in which almost everything has." James Thurber was right, even regarding gardens. And thanks to a garden-loving benefactor and the landscaping vision of Cynthia Benua, men, women, and dogs can enjoy the Thurber Centennial Reading Garden in the peaceable stretch between Thurber House and Thurber Center.

Four larger-than-life-size dogs, sculpted by Dale Johnson after Thurber's cartoons, frolic amid dogwoods, bayberries, viburnum, and a range of what a Thurber cartoon summed up as "flars." In the center of the garden, a fifth dog playfully perches on top of a tranquil fountain.

In the elliptical park across the street, a unicorn tosses its head as it considers which of the summer lilies it will eat next. The unicorn, modeled after the mythical beast in Thurber's story "The Unicorn in the Garden," is one of two matching sculptures. The other is on the grounds of the Columbus School for Girls.