The new Native Plant Garden at California State University, Fresno received an honorable mention from Tree Fresno at the organization’s Cityscape Awards.
The garden is both decorative and educational. It serves as a link between the recently opened Henry Madden Library, whose design and furnishings are a tribute to the region’s American Indian culture, and the Peace Garden, a recently re-landscaped statuary park dedicated to peacemakers.
The Native Plant Garden was created as an outdoor laboratory, replicating in one location six of the plants and some of the tools traditionally used in basket making by American Indians in the San Joaquin Valley.
The names of plants and tools (in English, Western Mono and Yokuts languages) are etched in low-rise native-granite walls within and around the plant garden.
When mature, traditional harvest and related celebrations will take place in the Native Plant Garden.
Each year, Tree Fresno honors businesses, institutions and organizations that are exemplars of a “spirit of community improvement and civic pride in landscape and beautification of the area.”
Tree Fresno is a volunteer organization dedicated to sustainable planting practices in the urban area. Fresno State and Tree Fresno are frequent partners in projects on and off campus, including numerous tree plantings.
