Most people who pass through the Medicinal Herb Garden do not make it across the street (Stevens Way) to the garden’s fruit forest. There’s no sign and it is surrounded by hedges and tall trees.
Center of fruit forest from the north (minus two large goumi bushes that have a new home at the Beacon Food Forest)
The plants have gradually filled in and started bearing fruit since I first cleared brush and began planting in 2000. Luckily, representatives of most of the plants in the fruit forest can be grown, here and there, on the outer borders of the Medicinal Herb Garden across the street, because the fruit forest will face the bulldozer in the coming months, to make room for a new building. The university is constantly adding new buildings and replacing outdated buildings. We all accept and understand this truth around here, yet there’s no avoiding a period of mourning when a place you love is about to disappear.
grapes (Vitis vinifera)
Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans)
woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
Years ago I read that there is now a name, coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, for this type of mourning. It’s called solastalgia.
Though it is probably a more fitting term for the experiences of the people of southern Appalachia, facing the horrors of mountaintop mining, or the citizens of Kiribati or Tuvalu, about to be displaced from their paridisiacal island homes by rising sea levels, solastalgia describes a psychic state of dislocation and disorientation caused by physical dispossession. We modern Americans have created a wasteland of placeless places, stamped out of a planner’s bag of templates, but a real sense of place is an integral part of our identity as humans. So, when a favorite space we are connected to disappears, even a relatively small oasis like the fruit forest, feeling a bit of sadness is inevitable. The trick to maintain sanity, or at least avoid being overwhelmed by despair, is to move forward and create new oases. There is always a marginal place that can be transformed. Keep your eyes on the borders of the Medicinal Herb Garden for these coming transformations.
sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
Italian prune plums (Prunus domestica)
black mulberry (Morus nigra)
Many of the smaller shrubs have already been relocated in the Medicinal Herb Garden. But the fruit forest space has a combination of solitude, quiet, shade in the lower part and sun in the upper, circular design, blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), paw paws (Asimina triloba), plums (Prunus spp.), raspberries (Rubus idaeus), honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea), pomegranates (Punica granatum), goumis (Eleagnus multiflora), Nanking cherries (Prunus tomentosa), Sichuan pepper bushes (Zanthoxylum simulans), black currants (Ribes nigrum), mulberries (Morus nigra), giant black walnut tree (Juglans nigra), grapes (Vitis vinifera), hardy kiwis (Actinidia arguta), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), honeybee (Apis mellifica) hives and wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca). That combination will be hard to reproduce.
black currant (Ribes nigrum)
raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) At the north entrance/exit of the fruit forest, you rub past two lemon verbena shrubs, catching just a hint of their refreshing scent on your clothes as you come and go.
Still, there is new inspiration to be drawn from this loss. The west side of the Chemistry Building’s south lawn has some excellent features. I’ve already started expanding into it and hope to add more plants during the dormant season. The same goes for the lawn between Benson Hall and Cascara Circle. Since January, I’ve planted blueberries , honeyberries, goumis, paw paws , prune plums, cherry prinsepia (Prinsepia sinensis), Chilean myrtle (Luma apiculata) and woodland strawberries. More to come.
New fruit forest border, northwest of Cascara Circle
New fruit forest border, west of Cascara Circle
Fruit forest, we’ll miss you, but your spirit will live on.
who records it all
the long list of lost places
memory hold fast
See you in the garden.
Oh, we will miss the Fruit Forest, also known to us as the Peace Garden! Mourning with you…
What we lose in this case seems much more important than what we will supposedly gain. Mourning with you, as Rebecca says.
Hi Caryl,
Thank you for the support. I should make clear that, while I’m sad to lose the fruit forest, I support the need of the Biology Department to expand its capacity to do its excellent research. The new structures will include a Life Sciences Building and a state-of-the-art greenhouse for research and teaching. We’re all going to have to be creative about how we use space in our increasingly dense urban spaces. I’ll do my best to make the new fruit forest spaces as welcoming, peaceful and fruitful as possible.
Keith
Keith, I’m sorry for the loss of this space but applaud your positive attitude. I’m sure the new space will become a welcoming, peaceful, and fruitful space for us all to enjoy.
I was wondering, are the Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum) bushes are available at any local nurseries? They would be a fun garden addition and their fruit would make great holiday gifts for friends.
Thank you for all you do to make the campus a beautiful place to work. Evelyn
Hi Evelyn,
City People’s Garden Store on Madison, just past the Arboretum, is an excellent resource. They have had Sichuan pepper in the past and might have some now. Alternatively, feel free to pinch a dozen or so of the fruit when they turn brown and start to split. The shiny, black seed inside can be planted in a seed flat, watered in then refrigerated for 90 days. The seeds require this cold stratification to germinate. It’s necessary to put the seed flat in a plastic bag in the refrigerator or it will dry out. When you pull the flat out, put it in a warm place and keep the soil moist. The seedlings shouldn’t take long to emerge and are quite vigorous and fast-growing.
Thank you for the compliments. I’m glad you enjoy the Medicinal Herb Garden.
Keith