The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden has publicly launched its $9 million capital campaign titled “Welcome, Gather, Grow.”

The campaign will help the nonprofit make the site more accessible, enlarge its event spaces and develop more of its property along the east bank of the Des Moines River, according to dsm magazine.

The botanical garden’s silent phase of the campaign raised more than $8 million, including four lead gifts of $1 million each from the Tom and Linda Koehn Foundation, Ed and Sue Kenny, Susan Moore, and the Meredith Corp. Foundation. The garden aims to reach its $9 million goal by this summer, a news release said.

The capital campaign will fund, among other things:

• A colorful entrance arch on the south side of the Interstate 235 overpass, plus new wayfinding and educational signs throughout the facility. The arch will be installed in late 2026 or early 2027, pending approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Iowa Department of Transportation.
• A renovated lobby with separate access to the gardens, the garden shop and Flora, the in-house restaurant.
• New free-access gardens.
• Enhancements to the Gardeners Show House and North Gallery for horticultural workshops and other events. For these updates, these spaces will close from mid-May through early October.

Learn more about the garden’s history at dsmmagazine.com.