On Monday, September 30, more than 400 Butler students, faculty, staff, and community volunteers replanted Holcomb Gardens with approximately 3,700 native plants. The effort was made possible thanks to funding from a Lilly Endowment Inc. grant, gifts from individual donors, and the partnership and in-kind design assistance of the Indiana Native Plant Society (INPS). The replanting of the 20-acre green space along the Central Canal Towpath is part of the Butler Gateway Project, which aims to create a more vibrant and interconnected Midtown Indianapolis community through projects that enhance the campus and surrounding neighborhood.

Established in 1928 by Butler Professor Willard Nelson Clute and redesigned and replanted in 1948 by James Irving Holcomb and Arthur F. Lindberg, the Gardens serve as a public park for many thousands of visitors each year and represent a treasured historic space for the campus and larger community alike. The Gardens had been covered with turf during the COVID-19 pandemic due to plant theft, destruction, and staffing shortages. Through the replanting project, Butler is advancing quality of life in the broader neighborhood by keeping the Gardens free and open to the public, while also making them more accessible, sustainable, and educational than ever before.

INPS and Butler team members spent several weeks preparing 12 beds for replanting and served as lead gardeners on Monday, instructing and educating volunteers, many of whom had never worked in a garden before. Temporary plant tags were placed throughout the Gardens with the goal of permanent educational signage installation by spring 2025. Guided by INPS, the Butler College of Education, and other experts, the signage will be produced with special attention to accessibility.

Coralie Palmer, INPS President and lead designer for the project, says the replanting offered an opportunity to honor the original design of the Gardens while reinvigorating the space with native species, which will reduce chemical runoff, enhance biodiversity, and conserve water. 

“All species are native to Indiana, and all plants used are straight species,” Palmer said, referring to the absence of hybrids, cultivars/nativars, and invasives in the new beds. “Looking at the 1948 plant lists, there is actually a significant quantity of native plants in there, which allowed us to replicate some areas of the 1948 designs as faithfully as possible.” 

Restoring and maintaining the Gardens naturally is a visible step in the University’s Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, which included the creation of a campus-wide Office of Sustainability earlier this year, along with approval by Butler’s Board of Trustees to pursue an updated Decarbonization Roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050.

Butler has also begun to “rewild” swaths of campus, converting turf, non-native garden beds, and other highly manicured areas into prairies, pollinator gardens, and no-mow zones. In total, these efforts are expected to significantly reduce Butler’s use of approximately 36,000 pounds of landscaping chemicals annually. 

“In addition to the Gardens, three-and-a-half acres have already been converted to no-mow or native plant beds on Butler’s campus,” Julia Angstmann, Executive Director of the Office of Sustainability, said. “We’re hoping to change people’s perspective on what a college campus should look like—from manicured grasses and highly landscaped beds to more wild spaces that enrich the soil life and enhance biodiversity. We want to help people understand that these efforts benefit local ecosystems and the people who depend on them.” 

The outpouring of support for the Holcomb Gardens replanting through financial gifts and volunteerism underscores the importance of this historic resource. 

“It has long been a part of Butler’s mission to serve as a resource to the larger community in ways that extend beyond academics,” Butler University President James Danko said. “Through athletics, cultural events, summer camps, and our Indianapolis service projects—required of all students—or by opening our spaces like Holcomb Gardens to the public, Butler University is deeply committed to enhancing the quality of life for our neighbors in Midtown Indy and across Central Indiana.” 

For this reason, the restoration of Holcomb Gardens is an integral part of the Butler Gateway Project.

Though the University is committing significant resources to its sustainability efforts, philanthropic support is essential to achieving its ambitious goals. Through a number of new programs and initiatives, Angstmann says students, faculty, staff, and community partners are being invited to participate in this work. 

“We know that over 70 percent of Butler students believe that protecting the natural environment is more important than all or most other issues, and that nearly 70 percent of prospective students nationwide consider an institution’s commitment to the environment when they make their college choice,” Angstmann says. “Butler is undergoing a true systems change when it comes to how we approach sustainability on our campus. The Holcomb Gardens replanting is a great example of the way we are breaking down silos and collaborating across campus and really inviting everyone to be a part of this. To me, that’s the most exciting part of this project.”

Butler, in partnership with INPS and other community partners, is currently developing the framework for a new Butler Garden Club that will enable volunteers to work in Holcomb Gardens. Please stay tuned for more information on this initiative. In the meantime, you can support Butler’s sustainability efforts by making a gift to the Green Fund today.