Wellesley College Botanic Garden

Instant succession planting plan
The edible ecosystem demonstration site before work had begun in 2010
Late winter site preparation with Wellesley students
Edible ecosystem demonstration site below the observatory
Late winter site preparation with Wellesley students

Edible Ecosystem Design

Wellesley, MA

The Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden is a first-of-its-kind research-oriented forest garden under development at the historic Botanic Gardens of Wellesley College. The project pushes the edge of ecology by not only describing the patterns and processes of our world, but also providing the opportunity to apply these concepts through the intentional design of productive ecosystems.

This landscape, designed with the assistance of a number of students and the support of many academic departments, will be a productive, diverse, and abundant human-created ecosystem that mimics the forest in structure and function. At the same time the landscape will provide diverse yields of food, habitat, and research opportunities and require minimal inputs and maintenance.

RDG is currently partnering with Dave Jacke of Dynamics Ecological Design (DED) and author of Edible Forest Gardens to complete detailed planting plans and management strategies for this exciting project.

Key Features:

Student involvement throughout process
Diverse Habitats and species
Productive analogs of native plant communities demonstrating ecological relationships in healthy plant communities.
Experimental non-toxic vegetation management strategies; including a salt spray for the sand plain mimic habitat
Passive infiltration irrigation for filtering stormwater and accelerating plant growth