Cultivating Community

The Botany Shop put roots down on Portage Avenue in South Bend, Indiana, near The Portage Collective and a row of tiny houses, in 2021. The shop has flourished here, and the owners decided that it was time to grow in the Near Northwest Neighborhood. The business will soon be expanding into the lot next door to offer an outdoor retail and plant staging area, assume ownership of an urban garden nearby to grow flowers for cut and dried arrangements plus winter greens for wreaths, and create more of what the owners call “The Botany Block.”   

Stepping inside the shop itself, visitors are surrounded by a variety of lush, healthy plants, tools and accessories—sure to inspire a green thumb in even the most novice of plant parents. Eyes wander to the striped leaves on plants like Aphelandra zebra or to shiny ones like philodendron varieties. Tiny succulents and tropical plants await arranging at a terrarium-making station. Air plants are tucked into their planters, and cuttings propagate in glass vials. There are even carnivorous plants for the curious and adventurous. Jewelry, cards and gifts from local makers are available just up the stairs.

The Botany Shop’s founder, Benjamin Futa, along with partner and co-founder Paul Sexton, moved back to the area from Madison, Wisconsin, during 2020 without a specific plan in mind. Futa missed being able to get lost in a garden shop on the weekends, and having spent his career in public gardens, he knew he had something to add to the area. They started a pop-up shop in the Thyme of Grace restaurant in April 2021, and a few months later moved into their current space. The Portage Avenue building felt right to Futa, especially when he found out about its history as a floral shop.

“South Bend is in this really interesting period of reinventing itself and discovering what it wants to be when it grows up again,” says Futa. “We had a lot of years of losing things and saying goodbye to things, and now we are in this phase of bringing beauty, vitality and vibrancy into these spaces again.”

The Botany Shop helps bring plant life into people’s living spaces, even of those who may not “be-leaf” in their own skills. By showcasing and educating about indoor plants and the shop’s urban farm, Futa hopes that they will show people who struggle with plant care might  just have not “met the right plant yet.” The Botany Shop provides “plant parenting” and plant care classes, repotting services and even lawn conversion and landscaping services for those who would like to bring native plants back to their outdoor spaces.   

This fall, visitors can expect to see the growth of The Botany Shop, with expanded classes and retail, including using the harvest of dried florals and evergreens for wreath-making workshops to celebrate the arrival of autumn. With the inclusion of the nearby urban farm, The Botany Shop will be able to offer experiences like tours and hands-on workshops in the space, learning about the plants and creating seasonal decor.                                        

The Botany Shop

909 Portage Ave.

South Bend, IN

574.213.2768

botanyorbust.com

Christina Clark is a writer based in South Bend, Indiana. She loves to explore northern Indiana and southwest Michigan, finding unique food and drink offerings and live music, and visiting the lakeshore and seasonal festivals. When she isn’t searching for hidden gems, she can be found at home surrounded by her typewriter collection, in a midcentury chair, reading a good book and with her corgi-mix sidekick, Rizzo.