Wander through a quiet area of the Garden campus near the southeast corner of the BRIT building and you’ll find a special place dedicated to celebrating the people who first gardened this area: the First Peoples’ Garden.
This garden features plants grown or used by indigenous Americans for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. “It’s a good place to see the plants that people used everyday to sustain their lives,” says Horticulturist Fernando Figueroa, who is responsible for the garden.
Native plants and native wisdom
The earliest inhabitants of North America were nomadic; they traveled extensively, hunting for meat and foraging for plants. In time, some tribes adopted agriculture and remained settled year-round, while others spent all or parts of the year migrating to follow game. North Texas was a meeting point for these two lifestyles, with Caddo people to the east living in small villages and Comanche, Wichita and Kiowa moving through the area from the north and west.
Plants were essential as a food source, as medicines, and for myriad other purposes from building materials and dyes to cleaning products and weapons.
“They couldn’t just go to the store, so they had to make what they needed,” says Figueroa. Over centuries of experimentation, indigenous people learned which plants could meet their needs.
They knew, for example, that yucca roots (Yucca spp.) made a good soap for bathing and washing clothes, that prairie sumac (Rhus lanceolata) leaves and roots made an effective poultice to stop bleeding and bring down swelling, and that the berries of spiny hackberry trees (Celtis pallida) could either be eaten raw or dried and ground into meal.
The First Peoples’ Garden features a handful of the hundreds of plants known to indigenous Americans. Of particular focus are the primary food crops: the Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash.
“These were the three most important plant food sources, and they were grown together,” says Figueroa. The cornstalk provides a trellis for the beans to climb, the beans provide nitrogen to the soil as a form of natural fertilizer, and the wide leaves of squash shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and reducing the growth of weeds. This planting system was widespread across North America, with specific adaptations to suit climates from the Great Lakes to the Southwest to the Yucatan peninsula.
This year at the First Peoples’ Garden, Figueroa grew corn (Zea mays), tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) and candy roaster squash (Cucurbita maxima) just as Americans did for hundreds of years.
Corn was a challenge to keep alive during the high temperatures this summer, says Figueroa–a challenge that indigenous gardeners would have known well. “They had heat waves then, too, and for them it wasn’t just a matter of the garden not looking good. They needed these plants to survive the winter,” he says.
A celebration of heritage
The First Peoples’ Garden is more than Figueroa’s job; it’s a celebration of his heritage. Figueroa is half Comanche. While he was born and grew up in Fort Worth, Figueroa spent much of childhood visiting the Comanche side of the family in Oklahoma.
His grandfather, an arborist, taught Figueroa about trees and plants. “As a kid, I thought how will I ever use this? Now, I’m glad,” he said.
For example, Figueroa planted the Three Sisters as his grandfather taught him. “Among the Comanche, four is an important number. There are four seasons, four directions [north, south, east and west]–four is important,” says Figueroa. “So we plant the corn in the four directions, with the squash in the center.”
Figueroa started at the Garden eight years ago, taking an entry-level job as a janitor. He moved up to groundskeeper in six months and then advanced to horticulturist, demonstrating his passion for the work. He took over the First Peoples’ Garden this year. The garden has existed in various forms since 2012, but Figueroa brings new commitment to the project.
“I thought, if this is going to honor the first people in America, I want to be part of making it great,” Figueroa says.
Currently, the First Peoples’ Garden is small and located in an area of the campus that sees few guests; in time, Figueroa hopes the garden can be relocated to a more prominent location and expanded.
As November draws to a close, guests are invited to visit the First Peoples’ Garden for a glimpse at the deep history of our area and a reminder that long-standing traditions remain vital through the hard work of people like Figueroa.
