Native Plant Medicinal Garden Design Activity

As a component of the new Special Topics course on Edible and Medicinal Plants of Montana (S 2017), students are tasked with designing and landscaping a Medicinal Plants of Montana Native Plant Garden. Students are introduced to content vocabulary that provides a basic understanding of plants, habitats, and Montana ecoregions. In addition, students participate in “Jeopardy”, a fun and interactive approach that allowed students to earn points while testing literacy. Jeopardy topics include simple flower dissection, Montana life zone and ecological systems, as well as the history of medicinal plant use. At the beginning of the semester, students were divided into groups of three, naming their groups with “plant” names, e.g., “Sepal Pushers”, “New Riders of the Purple Sage”, “The Birches”, and “Kinnickowerry 2”. Each group is provided previously collected plant material from four different native Montana plants used for medicinal purposes. Groups, working closely with the professor, learn methods to prepare their plants for traditional uses, including infusions, decoctions, tinctures, syrups and herb infused oils. Students also are encouraged, through literature or community involvement, to explore native or colloquial uses for their specific plants.

In their groups, students are required to design a medicinal plant garden. Each group is given the approximate dimensions of the garden and the professor presents options for them to consider, e.g., soil and bed preparation, pathways, fencing, and signage. Students are provided with a list of more than seventy plants to consider for placement in the garden. In groups, students research mature height and width of plants, special sun or soil requirements, and potential sources. In this manner, native plant research is spread among the groups and a final document containing all information is posted for group use in design. At the end of four weeks in which some laboratory time is provided for design, each group presents their ideas to the class. After selection of the best ideas from each group, the class is split into larger groups, each competitively presenting the ultimate design to be landscaped on the MSUN campus. The garden, as it grows and matures, will become a focal feature of the MSU Northern campus and serve as outreach to native students as well as the broader community.