New garden space added to Fabiano Botanical Garden
The finished landscaping construction of a Plants and Society Garden gives students another space to relax on campus.
Located in the southwest corner of the Fabiano Botanical Garden nearest to Library Drive, the garden sits atop an elevated ridge that slopes down to form a small, tree-covered, natural amphitheater. The main benefit of the garden is its ability to grow plants that have everyday applications like food and medicine.
Web-like concrete pathways have been laid to divide the garden into 11 individual plots with walkable space in-between. Each plot has its own theme of plants that will be grown.
Beverly Hills junior Kyle Simonte said he was particularly excited for the multicultural food and small-fruit gardens.
“It sounds like a nice little snack on the way to class, some brain food,” Simonte said.
Other plots in the garden include spaces for fragrant plants, herbs, fabrics and dyes, and a children’s garden made in honor of former biology professor, Faith Johnston. Johnston established the Herbarium in the 1930s, when CMU was known as Central Michigan College.
Unlike many other garden spaces on campus, the Plants and Society Garden will be maintained by the CMU Biology Department, instead of outside contractors.
“This garden is exciting, because, we get to plant and maintain it ourselves. It is much more interactive and educational,” said Patti Travioli, manager of the Botanical Garden and Greenhouse.
She added CMU students will mostly be doing the planting and maintenance in the garden space this spring.
Campus Grow is one student organization that will help maintain the Plants and Society Garden. Co-president, sophomore Claire Guthrie, said the garden will provide students with plenty of volunteer opportunities.
“It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of people to maintain the gardens that Campus Grow oversees.” Guthrie said.
Although the Plants and Society Garden is not large enough to be a full scale community garden, Campus Grow will donate whatever excess food there is.
With the addition of the Plants and Society Garden, the original design of the Fabiano Botanical Garden is complete.
Director of Development for the College of Science and Technology Geoffrey Bartlett said funding for the garden came from donations.
“We split the donations into halves—half for construction and half for maintenance,” Bartlett said.
He said many donations come from an annual collection called “Friends of the Garden.”
However frequent donors Curtis and Pat White and the Fabiano Family have made generous contributions.
