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Stiles African American Heritage Gardens
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DENVER
Nestled at the base of the Front Range, the upper Rocky Mountain Steppe is an ecologically diverse system in which to cultivate high desert restoration sites along urban corridors spread across ancient lake beds where the great plains meet the edifice of the Rockies. Denver has served as a crossroads for ages. Today it is experiencing massive urbanization despite water scarcity. Our work here promotes dry-land cultivation of native food-ways & medicine paths while looking at the historical migration of plants that have arrived with waves of immigrants who have settled in the west.
Stiles African American Heritage Gardens
In December 2022, the City of Denver’s Art & Venues program awarded us a PS You Are Here grant to establish the Stiles African American Heritage Gardens in the hell-strip surrounding the center. The project consists of sculpting a crevice garden of native flagstone and cultivating plants associated with historical entrepreneurs who found early Denver a platform to thrive. In this way, we intend to bring the intentions of the center into the public sphere, expanding on the physical installation with an online component.
The People & Pollinators Action Network continued support of the project in 2024 and we are currently working our way through a curatorial fellowship with Creature Conserve to broaden the network of gardens across the region.
The Stiles Center was awarded a Walking Together grant by the Regional Arts Organization in 2026.
Congress Park News Native Plant column
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Getting Started with Native Plants
Steppe Communities
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