The University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is showcasing three story gardens this summer, including an Igbo traditional farm, Hidatsa earth lodge agriculture and an Ojibwe food and medicine garden.
Curators Chidi Chidozie, Marique “Miriguá Miásh” Moss and Naawakweose say with each of the gardens, they set out to tell their culture’s story.
“The goal of the story gardens at the Arboretum is to highlight stories of people and plants that are often missing from botanic gardens,” Annie Klodd, the manager of interpretation at the Arboretum, said in a statement. “We hope that visitors not only learn about and connect with each story, but also start thinking about the ways that plants tie us all together.”
Garden exhibit coordinator Brownson Arebojie Jr. says he hopes the story gardens help more people in underrepresented communities discover the Arboretum and all that it offers.
Chidozie, co-curator of the Igbo traditional farm, said he sought to show gardening practices of Nigeria’s Igbo ethnic group. The exhibit includes mini huts “to mimic what the village environment would look like,” he said. Outside the huts are beds with jute mallow, water bitter leaf, fluted pumpkin, African basil and moss roses.
There’s colorful signage explaining the traditional farm background and the different plants native to the featured group’s lands.
Chidozie’s experience with gardening began at school gardens in Nigeria that helped nourish the students.
“Most of the students that come from impoverished families, for the most part that’s how they got their food,” he said.
Chidozie said he is sharing his stories and garden to educate people, including immigrant communities as it might influence them to start gardening with the plants they’re familiar with and expand to American crops.
“We’re going to get a lot of new gardeners and people growing what they eat,” Chidozie said.
Arebojie said as he works alongside Chidozie he has learned more about his own family’s Nigerian origins as they shared stories.
“It’s just been a full-circle moment of just understanding more about the older generation, what they went through and how they fought for their children to have an opportunity in this country,” Arebojie said. “Now we’re in a position to give that back and showcase that to these communities who’ve been separated from those plants back home and that nostalgia behind it.”
Sharing Indigenous history
Two other story gardens focus on sharing Indigenous agricultural traditions.
The Hidatsa Earth Lodge Agriculture exhibit focuses on the Hidatsa people along the Missouri River where for centuries women used to grow crops including corn, beans, squash and sunflowers. The exhibit includes traditional mound planting and also has small circular mounds representing earth lodge homes.
The Anishinaabeg Gitigaan “The Original People’s Garden” focuses on the agriculture of the Objibwe community from the woodlands and Great Lakes. It includes sage, sweetgrass, cedar and blueberries. Naawakweose said the reason why he and Moss planted those specifically is because they’re Ojibwe traditional plants and could be used for food and medicine.
Naawakweose said they created the gardens to teach and inform Minnesotans, including non-Natives, about their traditions and culture.
Naawakweose said he’s noticed that younger people have been interested with the gardens — much like he and Moss had been when they were younger and taught the importance of taking care of “plant relatives.”
“We’ve got to remember we are on Dakota land and being able to share Indigenous plant knowledge and just an Indigenous worldview is important for the world to latch onto,” he said.
As summer is wrapping up, the different gardens are planning to use the plants to support the community. Moss said the co-curators are willing to collaborate on potentially hosting a fall community fest to create meals to share with others.
Date: Open through the end of the harvest season
Time: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. (Buildings 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
Location: University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska
Cost: $20 for non-members; free for members and children 14 and younger
