Many Hands, One Garden at KHCPL South

This fall, the outdoor space at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library South Branch (KHCPL) underwent a remarkable transformation powered by community investment, professional guidance, and many willing hands.

KHCPL was one of only 100 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2026 Lowe’s Community Impact Grant. The $50,000 award supported improvements around the library’s Firefly Stage, community gardens, and surrounding outdoor spaces.

For its Red Vest Day, KHCPL hired Grow With Gordon as the project’s horticultural partner, providing professional planning, supervision, and guidance while Lowe’s volunteers and KHCPL staff supplied the hands-on labor.

And there was plenty of work to do.

Volunteers replaced all 38 of the library’s community garden beds, creating renewed growing spaces for the plants and programs that will fill them in the seasons ahead. They also helped plant three Autumn Blaze maple trees, each already approximately 10 feet tall.

As those trees mature, they will bring shade, structure, and brilliant fall color to a place already designed for people to gather, learn, and spend time outdoors.

A Full Day of Work Around the Gardens

The transformation reached beyond the raised beds and new trees.

With guidance from the Master Gardener who cares for the butterfly and pollinator garden throughout the year, volunteers carefully weeded, thinned, pruned, and cleaned the garden while preserving the plants meant to remain.

Elsewhere on the property, volunteers removed aging metal edging from landscape beds, cleared weeds and overgrowth around the building and sidewalks, spread mulch, and completed a final landscape cleanup.

The KHCPL librarians deserve special recognition. They did far more than organize the event or work behind the scenes. They moved soil, assembled garden beds, carried heavy materials, and stepped in wherever another pair of hands was needed. Their energy and willingness to tackle every kind of job kept the work moving throughout the day.

By the end of the day, the transformation was easy to see.

Thirty-eight renewed garden beds stood ready for future growing seasons. Three young maple trees had new homes. The butterfly garden received careful attention, and the landscape surrounding the library was cleaner and more welcoming.

The larger grant project also included additional improvements completed separately, including a pergola and work around the Firefly Stage. Together, these changes are helping KHCPL South strengthen an outdoor space used for gardening, learning, performances, and community gatherings.

Grow With Gordon was proud to contribute our knowledge, but this project came together because KHCPL, Lowe’s, the Master Gardener, library staff, maintenance staff, and volunteers all brought something important to the day.

This community landscaping project in Kokomo shows what can happen when funding, professional knowledge, and willing hands come together.

Good community landscaping is not only about what gets planted. It is also about creating places where people can grow food, learn together, gather comfortably, and feel welcome.

At KHCPL South, many hands helped prepare that space for its next season.