Foraging Circle
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden in partnership with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board / Established May 2013
Foraging Circle is a permanent installation planted in May 2013 in conjunction with the exhibition Fritz Haeg: at Home in the City and on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Sculpture Garden. It is a 33 foot diameter circular garden of a wide diversity of plants—many native to the region—with domestic uses such as herbals, medicinals, edibles, and plants for dying textiles and attracting pollinators. These could be medicinals, herbals, edibles, plants that attracts pollinators, plants that are used for dying textiles. These may be plants that existed here before European settlers arrived, but also plants that make sense in this climate that have some sort of traditional use domestically.
The garden is divided into four quadrents, each representing a regional biome: Fruiting Woodland, Prairie Plains, Prairie Pothole, and Berry Brambles. The planting bed is bermed up to a central ring of tree stumps that form a gathering circle which is covered for the first season by a 18' diameter geodesic dome serving as a headquarters for public workshops, conversations, meals, and events related to local horticulture, food production, and urban farming.
I grew up in suburban Minneapolis and during the summers I was lucky to have the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Those early experiences I had with outdoor public artworks there had a direct impact on the work I am doing today. We need to have places and institutions that support art that is alive and happening out of white boxes. We need official, sanctioned, thoughtfully curated spaces for work out of doors, and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is one the best examples we have of that.
TEAM
Curators: Sarah Schultz and Eric Crosby, Walker Art Center
Residency coordinator and landscape consultant: Anna Bierbrauer
Interns: Brett Baldauf, Will Gobeli, Katherine Lee, Bridget Mendel, Björn Sparrman
PLANTINGS
Fruiting Woodland...
Apricot - Prunus 'Moongold' / Prunus 'Scout'
Cherry - Prunus 'North Star'
Plum - Prunus 'Superior' / Prunus 'Toka'
Pear - Pyrus 'Summercrisp' / Pyrus 'Parker'
Apple - Malus 'Cortland' / Malus 'Honeycrisp' / Malus 'Sweet Sixteen'
Alpine/Woodland Strawberry - Fragaria vesca
Spotted Bee Balm - Monarda punctata
Sweet Woodruff - Galium odoratum
St Johns Wort - Hypericum perforatum
Virgin's Bower Clematis - Clematis virginiana
Prairie Plains...
Lavendar Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Prairie Coreopsis - Coreopsis palmata
Rattlesnake Master - Eryngium yuccifolium
New England Aster - Aster novae-angliae
Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta
Showy Goldenrod - Solidago speciosa
Culver's Root - Veronicastrum virginicum
Bottlebrush Grass - Hystrix patula
Sweet Grass - Hierochloe odoratum
Little Bluestem - Schizachyrium scoparium
Prairie Dropseed - Sporobolus heterolepis
Borage - Borago officinalis
Prairie Sage - Artemisia ludoviciana
Wild Plantain - Plantago spp.
Allheal - Prunella vulgaris
Angelica - Angelica archangelica
Anise-Hyssop - Agastache foeniculum
Bergamot - Mondarda fistulosa
Roman Chamomile - Chamaemelum nobile
Hidcote Lavendar - Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote
Meadowsweet - Filipendula ulmaria
Mullein - Verbascum thapsus
French Tarragon - Artemisia dracunculus
Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale
Asparagus - Asparagus 'Jersey Knight'
Rhubarb - Rhuem 'Chipmans Canada Red'
Horseradish - Armoracia rusticana
Onion - Allium spp.
Scarlet Runner Bean - Phaseolus coccineus
Pansy - Violax wittrockiana
Sage - Salvia officinalis
Mint - Mentha spicata
Calendula - Calendula officinalis
Leeks - Allium porrum
Partridge Pea - Chamaecrista fasciculata
Bebb's Oval Sedge - Carex bebbii
Early Sunflower - Helianthus annuus
Wild Blue Indigo - Baptisia australis
Feverfew - Tanacetum parthenium
Catnip Nepeta cataria
Wild Senna - Cassia hebecarpa
Blue Flax - Linum lewisii
Side Oats Grama - Bouteloua curtipendula
Fringed Sedge - Carex crinita
Spotted Bee Balm - Monarda punctata
Butterfly Weed - Asclepias tuberosa
Purple Cone Flower Echi- nacea purpurea
Goldenrod - Solidago speciosa
Malabar Spinach - Basella rubra
June Grass - Koeleria macrantha
Indian Grass - Sorghastrum nutans
Prairie Pothole...
Virgin's Bower Clematis - Clematis virginiana
Riverbank Grape - Vitus riparia
Celadine Poppy - Stylophorum diphyllum
Bigleaf Aster - Eurybia macrophylla
Lion's Foot - Leontopodium alpinum
Cardinal Flower - Lobelia cardinalis
Wild Ginger - Asarum caudatum
Blue Flag Iris - Iris versicolor
Jack-in-the-Pulpit - Arisaema triphyllum
May Apple - Podophyllum peltatum
Broadleaved Arrowhead - Sagittaria latifolia
Watercress - Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum
Swamp Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Stinging Nettle - Urtica dioica
Boneset - Eupatorium perfoliatum
Marsh Marigold - Caltha palustris
Berry Brambles...
Westwick Black Currant - Ribes nigrum ' Westwick'
Strata Black Currant - Ribes nigrum ' Strata'
Blackdown Black Currant - Ribes nigrum 'Blackdown'
Ben Sarek Black Currant - Ribes nigrum 'Ben Sark'
Blanca White Currant - Ribes nigrum 'Blanca'
Minnesota 52 Red Currant - Ribes nigrum 'MN 52'
Black velvet Gooseberry - Ribes uva-crispa 'Black Velvet'
Invicta Gooseberry - Ribes uva-crispa 'Invicta'
Ben Lemond Black Currant - Ribes nigrum 'Ben Lemond'
Leepared Gooseberry - Ribes uva-crispa 'Leepared'
Canada 0273 Gooseberry - Ribes uva-crispa 'Canada 0273'
Serviceberry - Amelanchier alnifolia 'Regent'
Cranberry - Viburnum trilobum 'Wentworth'
Hazelnut - Corylus americana
Black Chokeberry - Aronia melanocarpa
Raspberry - Rubus 'Killarney'/'Bristol Black'
Honeyberry - Lonicera caerulea
Black Raspberry - Rubus occidentalis
Yellow Bedstraw - Galium verum
Betony - Betonica officinalis
Sweet Cicely - Myrrhis claytonii
Salad Burnet - Sanguisorba officinalis
True French Sorrel - Rumex acetosa
Purple Hyacinth Bean - Lablab purpureus
Climbing Nasturium - Tropaeolum Majus
Malabar Spinach - Basella rubra
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