A new sustainable garden catered to the desert environment of Arizona opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday at Encanto Park in Phoenix.
The Garden of Dreams was paid for by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a private foundation that promotes health and wellness among children. The Garden is a collaboration between ASU American Humanics, a program that trains students to work for nonprofit organizations, and the Lodestar Center, a nonprofit advocate for other nonprofits.
“We had an enormous opportunity with the Kellogg Foundation for students to dream a dream,” ASU Lodestar Center executive director Robert Ashcraft said.
The garden started in January 2009 with a proposal from students of the ASU American Humanics program to build a park with natural Arizona vegetation.
The space can be used as an outdoor classroom, said Steve Vollmer, the garden’s landscape architect and designer.
The garden will reach its full maturation in the years to come, Vollmer said.
“Two, three, four years (and) that will be when (the garden) is really hitting its stride,” he said. “In 10 years it’s going to be a beautiful shade oasis.”
Argentine Mesquite trees, which will grow up to 30 feet, are scattered throughout the garden.
“(They will) grow up and be a great shade canopy over the whole area,” Vollmer said.
Chuparosas, a shrub native to parts of California and Arizona, provide some color to the garden.
“(They get) great orange trumpet flowers on (them) for quite a bit of the year,” Vollmer said.
Prickly pear cacti will add another aspect of color in the spring.
Water usage is kept low in the park because of the selection of native desert plants, like the varieties of yucca that will eventually grow to five feet.
“We tried to make it a garden where it unfolded as you walked through it,” Vollmer said.
The existing trees in the area were incorporated into the design of the garden, said sustainability and nonprofit leadership and management senior Tiffany Bailey, project lead with American Humanics.
“I love the way that the trees shade the area,” Bailey said. “I like the benches.”
There are two long winding concrete benches that will eventually have mosaics in the garden. The mosaics will be created by local school children, Bailey said.
Areas of the garden have been set aside to incorporate seasonal planting as well, she said.
“(Encanto Park) is the jewel of Phoenix,” city councilman Michael Nowakowski said at Friday’s ceremony.
Nowakowski shared stories of the park’s history that community members shared at the 75th anniversary of Encanto Park in November.
One man told Nowakowski about the medal he won in a swimming contest at the park, Nowakowski said. A couple showed him the spot in the park where they were married 50 years prior.
“That’s what’s so incredible about this park, the history, the stories, the dreams,” he said.
Reach the reporter at ryan.mccullough@asu.edu
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