In our latest success story, we will visit Indianapolis Zoo, where Scott Sullivan, Curator of Horticulture, Suzie Steel, Assistant Curator of Horticulture, and Amanda Kehoskie, Zoo Registrar, share how Hortis has transformed their team’s approach to plant collections management.
Nestled on more than three acres in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, White River Gardens creates a lush botanical focal point as the gateway entrance experience at the Indianapolis Zoo. Founded in 1999 as part of White River Gardens State Park, today our botanical garden continues to inspire visitors with themed garden designs in the outdoor DeHaan Tiergarten and the soaring indoor tropical oasis inside the Hilbert Conservatory. In addition to showcasing diverse ornamental and native plantspecies, we also care for unique species that are targets for conservation, such as the ‘ālula (Brighamia insignis) from Kaua’i, Hawai’i—which is extinct in the wild—and Deam’s penstemon (Penstemon deamii), Indiana’s only endemic plant. We support other plant conservation projects through the Indianapolis Zoo's Global Center for Species Survival, a partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission.
The botanical collections of the Indianapolis Zoo also extend throughout our campus, integrating plants and animals across themed exhibit areas featuring different biomes of the world, such as African savannas, temperate forests and deserts. Plants are more than just a scenic backdrop at the Indianapolis Zoo—they play an important role in stories of species diversity and conservation that we share with visitors.
Managing 44,000 individual plants from 3,000 species at the Indianapolis Zoo was hampered by an inefficient database system. General-purpose database software was not optimizable for the different needs of our collection and for the people engaging with it on a regular basis. Cumbersome and confusing user interfaces, search tools and updates caused our two full-time curators to spend too much time entering data and backtracking on tasks and less time innovating the use of the collections for the future.
The Indianapolis Zoo already used Species360 software to manage its animal collection. A demo of Hortis quickly revealed the possibilities of this related software to efficiently manage the extensive number of plants in the collection—outnumbering the animal species ten to one. We envisioned that making a switch to this web-based, collaborative and intuitive software tailored to plant collections management would improve our efficiency and create new opportunities for how we use our collections.
We adopted the Hortis platform in March 2024. In just a few months, we’ve been able to take advantage of many of the upgrades Hortis provides. Foremost for us: Hortis has streamlined the data-entry process, making it faster and easier to update entries. We appreciate the ability to quickly identify changes from multiple users overtime. We also use Hortis’s efficient project management tools, such as built-in task planning, reminders and collaboration options. We love the ability to add photos of specimens and create comprehensive summaries of changes to the collection. As plants are added, removed or relocated from one part of the Zoo to another, all users know what is happening and when, improving our communication as well as the speed and accuracy of our work.
Moving forward, we are excited to exploit the potential of Hortis’s collections mapping system. With the ease of dropping a virtual pin on a map, we can identify the dynamic physical locations of many of the plants in our collection across the White River Gardens exhibit areas and the rest of the Zoo’s grounds. Because Hortis is web-based, we can engage more staff and volunteers with our collections—and hopefully one day make these tools accessible to visitors. An intuitive and nimble database will help us connect our guests more fully with the plants in our care and inspire them to champion the plant biodiversity of our world.
At our Plant Records Webinar Celebrating Success Stories on December 3rd 2024, Suzie Steel shares their experience with Hortis at Indianapolis Zoo
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