San Antonio Botanical Garden Strategic Master Plan

Reed Hilderbrand’s work with San Antonio Botanical Garden has built upon the success of the GROW campaign expansion. Extending the care and excitement which now welcomes visitors, this plan seeks to revive the heart of the garden. It returns attention to the Texas Native Trails and manages for the stresses of expanding programs and increased visitorship. It envisions new and refreshed Garden spaces, such as the sweeping 2.5 acre Pollinator Garden and Meadow, which connects the historic Carriage House Restaurant to the Sunrise Overlook. This garden serves as the foreground for a new, iconic Public and Education Greenhouse, imagined by SO-IL, which houses classrooms, a seed bank, and a library to educate and engage visitors with the back-of-house and growing operations of the Garden. Tying into the success of the 2019 addition of a Zachry Culinary Garden, there are two expanded culinary and cultivation opportunities: one at the renovated Community Vegetable Garden, with accessible beds and additional classroom spaces, and the other with the addition of a vineyard in the Texas Hill Country area, to reflect the legacy of vinoculture in Texas. Beyond physical improvements, the plan contemplates recommendations to reinforce community practices broadly. A primary focus of the plan is on the Garden’s internal community of staff and leadership as well as the greater community of neighbors, San Antonio residents, and visitors from around the world.

This Strategic Master Plan for the Garden outlines recommendations over 10-to-15 year period for actions to strengthen community connections and implement site improvements. Key principles emerged during the process to define the Strategic Master Plan ambitions for the next decade and beyond. Bringing plants forward to inspire, welcome, and expand the lives of all by centering conservation and expanding access.