Columbus Botanical Garden turns a new leaf. 3 new senior staff bring long overdue revival
The grounds of the Columbus Botanical Garden have remained relatively unchanged for years.
The 4 acres of flowers, fountains, trees, vegetable gardens and “world-class camelia garden” surrounding the century-old Adams’ Farm House off Weems Road have lacked direction and community purpose for some time.
Columbusites are disengaged with a garden that has had a revolving door of leadership, identity and project followthrough. Talk of a master plan to develop more land have been discussed for at least 12 years, but changes have been slow and incremental at best.
Board members and garden donors suggest the lack of change and engagement with the community is a symptom of leadership deficit.
Now, that’s all changing.
“Andrew Ruhs is the answer, he is the leader we haven’t had. He is perfect for what the botanical garden needs,” said Sam Wellborn, a major donor to the Columbus Botanical Garden nonprofit. Wellborn created the world-class camellia garden in 2013 that winds through the woods of the botanical garden.
Ruhs became the latest executive director to the garden, replacing the prior leader who left for another position at the end of 2024.
Ruhs was the Columbus Botanical Garden board president for just a year before he was asked to take on the new role. So far, he has impressed the staff and the board with his ability to revive the “floundering leadership” Wellborn said the garden has faced.
One of the biggest challenges the urban green space has is acquiring funding. The rock and hard place that the nonprofit lives between is not receiving any city or state funding, and relying significantly on major gifts and membership fees.
But Ruhs has a strong financial background. His predecessors had a strong horticultural background.
“It wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card to be the interim director,” Ruhs said.
He worked as a lawyer, has a master’s degree in finance, and has worked in financial analytics. But in December he quit his job because he “cares about the garden” and knows “how much it means to the community.”
January and February were the best two financial months the garden has seen since 2020.
“Right now we’re near where we were by the end of last year for financials,” he said.
He said a lot of the organizational struggles came from an old accounting and financial firm, which he switched away from once he took the interim director position.
“Everything is up, every financial category is not just a little bit better than last year but like between 50 and 200% better,” Ruhs told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Ruhs says he hired more help that the garden needed – he brought in a major gifts and plant expert.
He hired a development director to help solve financial issues, something the garden hasn’t had since before 2020. He also hired a horticulturalist just last month, which the garden has never had.
“We’ve got a triumvirate of people,” said Ed Kinner, board member and major donor to Columbus Botanical Garden. “We needed a professional horticulturist. We finally have a development director that Andrew hired, and we have Andrew who has a financial background. So we’ve got a good team.”
Kinner has been on the board for decades. The retired doctor called the garden the “natural jewel in this area of town.”
“You’ve got Columbus Crossing, and you got all these auto dealerships and all that stuff. And here is this jewel, right in the middle of all this commercial development.”
A green space, an asset for everyone in Columbus
To the north and south of Columbus, Pine Mountain and Providence Canyon offer natural escapes. Within the city, Lakebottom Park, Standing Boy Trail, Flat Rock Park and others offer green space too. But according to a study last April, the city has a lot of work to do to get a better rank of walkable and accessible green space.
Columbus was ranked 158 out of 182 U.S. cities for the amount of green space on offer in a city of this size.
Exposure to green space is associated with better mental health and well being, according to the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.
“The mission of the garden is to be a community asset,” Ruhs said. “It’s not just about being beautiful but also educating the community.”
Educational activities include a pollinator pals program where the Environmental Education Coordinator, Tabby Robinson will bring students into the garden and teach them. Robinson goes to schools and educates students through “the little sprouts program.”
The botanical garden’s vegetable garden produces 17,000 pounds of fresh produce per season and is all donated to Feeding the Valley, Ruhs said.
Just this month, a relic of the Adams’ family property farmhouse, an old barn, was torn down to make space for additional vegetable gardens. An American Public Garden Association grant will add eight more raised beds, which Ruhs hopes will significantly increase output to donate more food to the city.
The third annual Columbus Botanical Garden Symposium was a “great success,” Ruhs said.
Attendance more than doubled compared to last year. One of the speakers, Devon Moore, educated the community about the importance of composting during his session. Moore has been voluntarily bringing compost scraps from restaurants around the city and making compost piles in the garden.
The organization is updating its rose garden, adding a day lily garden, and recently planted a dozen long-leaf pines thanks to a partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
“He’s got something going every month,” Wellborn said.
Membership and vital development
Beyond the education, the garden has been a place to celebrate milestones.
“It’s a place for every season and stage of life: wedding, a proposal, or a place to have quiet beauty after funerals,” Carmen Overton, the development director, said.
Overton, who Wellborn called the “missing link,” has lived and worked in Columbus for 22 years working in nonprofit and development roles. She was the development director at the Columbus Museum, which recently went through a $25 million dollar renovation and upgrade.
Overton said the membership benefits haven’t been broadcasted well, and she intends to change that, increasing membership beyond its current 600 members. The garden relies significantly on private donations.
“Most people don’t know that we’re an American Horticulture Society garden, which means when you’re a member here you have access to 360 gardens year-round,” Overton said. “That includes the Atlanta and Chicago gardens.”
Membership starts at $55 for the year, which means free entry to the Columbus Botanical Garden, which otherwise has a $12 entry cost. The entry fee was implemented just a few years ago, according to Ruhs.
Overton said some of the other benefits include exclusive member trips, private garden tours, discounts on garden programs and events.
“We’re going on a shoal lily trip with members, soon,” she said.
Overton is the first development director the garden has had since before the pandemic. Overton and Ruhs have plans to see the ambitious, long-term planning goal to develop the other 35 acres of land that the garden owns, “as fast as we can in a prudent manner,” Ruhs said.
The third senior staff member recently added is Brandon Coker, the director of horticulture.
A horticulturalist, Coker said, is someone who makes sure plants grow. Coker has worked in commercial greenhouses, where he said “millions” of plants will grow at a time “effectively and efficiently.”
He’s been a garden manager across the Peach State, including at the University of Georgia where he also got his bachelor’s degree.
“I have a personal plan for every spot in this garden,” he said. “I can see it in my mind, if I had the money right now I would do it all, but it’s a step process. This is a great time of year to start because I’m seeing everything transition from winter to spring.”
Ruhs’ favorite phrase is “shovels in the ground,” and it seems to be working.
Wellborn wants Ruhs as a permanent director, to “drop this interim stuff.”
“If it happens it happens, my goal is to get the nonprofit to be stable and to a place where it will thrive for the next 25 years,” Ruhs said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Andrew Ruhs’ name was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
