Botany was founded in 2018 while our founders were living in Madison, Wisconsin. While we were both born and raised in South Bend, at that time, it wasn’t clear what Botany would become (or when).

The pandemic in 2020 uprooted and redirected our energy, as it did for most of us. It reminded us that we had always intended to return home to South Bend, and since our home town didn’t have a public garden (yet) to call its own, we realized maybe that just meant it was up to us to build one.

In early 2021, we launched a new local and independent business, The Botany Shop, as a pop-up in a local restaurant, Thyme of Grace. We’ve been growing and cultivating this place we’re proud to call home ever since.

Botany is a space and a concept to create, hold, and cultivate things we care about making real within our community, including community itself. A plant shop could stand on its own, as could a plant center and urban farm. Each is a business within the larger context of what Botany ultimately aims to do: building neighborhoods grounded in the power of plants.

In early 2025, on the cusp of our fifth season of operations and the grand opening of The Lot Next Door, we’re updating our brand to be more inclusive of the many spaces, activities, and dreams that we for this space and this community.

Botany & Co. will roll out throughout the spring of 2025 and we can’t wait to share more details with you.