On the third-floor rooftop of the Mitchell Physics Building, native Texas plants take root, professors chat with students, and caterpillars feed on vines just feet above a lecture hall filled with future physicists. But the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Garden is more than an oasis for scholars and species. It’s a visual representation of two benefactors’ belief in the intersection of science and humanity.
Cynthia Woods Mitchell and George P. Mitchell ’40 left an incredible legacy at Texas A&M University. From a tennis facility to professorships to the physics building bearing their name, their more than $105 million in giving reflects their backgrounds and passions. Throughout their lifetimes, Cynthia championed the arts and social justice, while George, an energy businessman known for revitalizing his hometown of Galveston, Texas, was an advocate for sustainable development and science.
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Garden was the first rooftop garden on campus. It features many native Texas plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
One of campus’s best-kept secrets, the 10,000-square-foot garden was constructed in 2008 thanks to a generous gift from the Mitchells through the Texas A&M Foundation, adding to their earlier contributions for both the physics building and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy. The landscape features Texas persimmons, autumn sages, passion vines, spineless prickly pear cacti and more.
While these flowers and foliage create a welcoming vista for visitors, Carla Leonard, the garden’s grounds manager, explained that they also serve a greater purpose: creating a sanctuary for swallowtail and monarch butterflies as well as hummingbirds. “This was part of Cynthia’s original vision for the garden,” Leonard said, “so we intentionally pick and choose plants that are food suppliers for butterflies and small birds.”
The first green roof on campus, the garden consists of lightweight soil atop layers of materials for filtration, drainage, waterproofing and insulation. A cistern collects and recycles rainfall for supplemental irrigation. Maintained by an endowment funded by the Mitchells, the garden blends their passion for design and sustainability and stands as a living tribute to their vision for the university.
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