BEFORE AND AFTER: CORK ARTS DISTRICT GARDEN MAKEOVER
CoRK stands for the corner of Rosselle and King and houses over 60 artists’ studios among three buildings, the prominent mural on the corner was painted by CoRK residents Shaun Thurston and Mark Ferreira.
Last Fall, we installed a native garden for CoRK Arts District , a complex of over 80,000 square feet of warehouse space centered around artist studios and galleries in the Riverside neighborhood of Jacksonville. It has been in the ground for about 8 months and is doing exceptionally well! We thought we would share a little about the project to show how native plants can be used creatively to enhance a challenging urban space.
Eight months post-installation, the garden is brimming with new growth. The CoRKyard is a thoroughfare for artists and visitors, running between both buildings. We added Florida-Friendly plantings to the existing beds, bringing life to the area!
This garden was special because of the unique challenges this site contained; deep shade, degraded and thin soil, shallow utilities and no irrigation. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right? In most cases, yes. These conditions would make it nearly impossible for most plants to do well. However, these obstacles created an opportunity to design a garden adapted to the space and to showcase the utility of native plants by selecting the right plant for the right place.
BEFORE: Photo of the site in early October 2023 prior to the installation, as you can see, sword ferns, aloe, agave and other invasives were running rampant in the makeshift concrete beds that were already on site.
The problems: As mentioned the conditions of this garden are harsh and unforgiving. Not only is the soil exceptionally thin, it is degraded from years of industrial use, stone aggregate and Lord knows what else. The existing beds that were a DIY creation by some of the resident artists had become overridden with spiky aloe, agave, invasive sword fern and mother of millions (they definitely live up to their name!) Did I also mention that there is a 6” pvc pipe that runs through the middle of the planting bed? Yeah, that too. All of this is compounded by the fact that it is in deep shade, dry and has no source of irrigation. Knowing this, what would you plant?
Photo from 2010 before site was converted into artist’s workspaces, the asphalt under what was formerly old rail lines that ran through the property still exists under the current ground covering.
AFTER: Florida-Friendly and colorful! This is a photo a few months after planting.
The solution: We knew a traditional plant palette wouldn’t be the answer for this garden. We had to choose plants that were naturally inclined to thrive in these sorts of conditions; natives that grow on shaded rocky slopes, shaded hammocks and other plants that thrive on minimal care.
AFTER: Eight months later, the garden is well-established and showing tons of progress!
The foundation plantings for this bed were Coontie, Florida Anise and Oakleaf Hydrangea, two of which grow in shaded limestone ravines in the panhandle of Florida. I knew these plants would be good candidates. Coonties, a native cycad that is adaptable to most soil and garden conditions, also became an obvious choice.
The Oakleaf Hydrangea is now thriving, these leaves are about 16” inches wide! We can’t wait to see the beautiful white cone-shaped flower clusters appear from late spring to early summer. Skull mural was painted by Matthew Abercrombie.
Other plants such as Wild Petunia, Stokes Aster, Mona Lavender, Red Columbine and Lime Sizzler Firebush fill up open space and add bursts of color and texture to the garden.
Mona lavender, Red Columbine, Florida Anise, Flag Iris, Lime Sizzler Firebush, Stokes Aster and Oakleaf Hydrangea have adapted well to their new urban home! This area gets a little help from some light irrigation resulting from the AC condensation line.
The final result is a cohesive landscape that needs minimal input and is full of color!
The amazing bloom of the Columbine! It's easy to start the native red variety from seed, and it will reward you later by attracting hummingbirds.
The Stokes Aster is providing a lovely pop of purple & lavender and can vary in color within the species.
This project was a long time wish list item for some of the like-minded, nature loving artists at CoRK, who fundraised to make this installation possible. Through a generous sponsorship from Ruckus Agency, they were able to hire us to revitalize their garden space, as well as purchase some additional seating and reconstruct their CoRKyard ramp to improve accessiblity & safety.
Shaun Thurston painted this mural in the CoRKyard as a shout out to Ruckus Agency for supporting CoRK’s mission and our improvement project.
We have received wonderful feedback from the artists and visitors at CoRK, many of them have used the plants and flowers that are now present in the garden as subject matter for their artwork! We look forward to building these relationships so that we can continue to spread the word about the mutual benefits native plants can bring to our environments.
We were happy to contribute to the ever evolving landscape of CoRK, using a creative approach to build habitat in a formerly inhospitable location!
Do you have an unconventional space that you would like brought to life? Contact us at Wacca Pilatka to set up a consultation to see how we can help you create a Florida Friendly garden of your own!
