An Update on Elysian Park’s Test Plots: A Community Garden Experiment

By Jenny Jones, Test Plot Founder

Test Plot is an ongoing, community garden experiment focused on restoring native ecologies in our public spaces. A collaboration between the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park, Terremoto and Saturate, this initiative started at Marian Harlow Grove in Elysian Park, inspired by the model of community gardening that has shaped the Grove for decades.

The first four original Test Plots surrounding Marian Harlow Grove were designed to make ongoing care as easy as possible for volunteers, with the length of a hose determining the location of the plots and the throw of a sprinkler determining their shape.

The Elysian Test Plots are now in their second year and have experienced some wonderful growth and establishment as well as some setbacks. The Black Sage, Penstemon and Yerba Buena are thriving and providing blooms and seeds for birds and insects.  Gophers decimated grasses and other sages, forcing us to start over in half of the plots. Yet, we see these setbacks as important part of the process. We learn from these challenges — growing from our tests in the garden and in life.

This past year, we partnered with the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Southern California on a design studio for their third-year students. The students designed and installed a Test Plot at Rio de Los Angeles State Park, just across the river from Elysian Park. It was a fantastic expansion of the concept, proof that it can work across the city.

New partnerships and relationships with the Audubon Society, California State Parks and the Abuelas del Rio volunteer group, show that Test Plot can morph and flex depending on the community and their interests. At the Rio Test Plots, the emphasis was on hyper-local native riparian plants that specifically attract key bird species to the area. There will be another studio class this fall with USC and they will install a third Test Plot in Baldwin Hills Park.

We are also currently exploring a Test Plot in Ernest E. Debs Regional Park potentially in collaboration with a group interested in planting a Miyawaki Micro Forest, a specific forest restoration technique that has proven successful in other climates but has not been thoroughly tested in Southern California.

Test Plot is always looking for volunteers and collaborators, so please visit our recently updated website if you are interested.