Colton Garden

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Colton Garden

May-September

Wheel chair accessible path and garden beds allow everyone to enjoy the garden.
Sunflowers, gourds, and other crops with long histories in the Southwest flourish in the Colton Community Garden.
The Hoop House supports the growth of seedlings for the Native Plant Program and garden.
For volunteers, working in the community garden is an enjoyable way to spend time outdoors with others, and learn about growing food.
The garden serves as a learning laboratory for all ages, with regular public education workshops and ongoing collaborations.

The Colton Garden provides a space for people of all ages to learn how to grow plants and reconnect with their food. Located on the site of MNA founder Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton’s World War II Victory Garden, the volunteer-run garden showcases locally-adapted heritage and native plants, species that support pollinators and biodiversity, and varied growing techniques.

The garden includes several examples of season extenders, including a hoop house and a passive solar greenhouse built in 1976, when it was the first of its kind on the Colorado Plateau. Portions of the garden are used to experiment with heirloom and native seeds and Indigenous farming methods. The Colton Garden promotes the conservation of important species of pollinators and migratory birds, through its organic growing methods, plant diversity and incorporation of native plants.

The garden is open to the public during daylight hours, with a wheelchair accessible path, benches, views of the San Francisco Peaks, and demonstration beds overflowing with flowers and vegetables.

The garden also hosts regular public education workshops and ongoing collaborations. Check the calendar for upcoming garden events, including workshops on gourd carving and baking in a traditional Pueblo bread oven.

 

Directions to Colton Garden:

By GPS – enter coordinates 35.23551, -111.6607

Driving directions from downtown Flagstaff – Take 180 North towards the Museum of Northern Arizona. BEFORE you reach the museum, turn right onto Winding Brook Rd. Follow this road until it comes to a “T”. Turn left and park. Walk behind the buildings to the garden.

Map

Seasonal vegetable, fruit and heritage grain beds
Planting for pollinator habitat.
Gourds grow over an arch, framing a view of the San Francisco Peaks.
Carol Fritzinger, the volunteer garden manager, roasts corn that was grown in the garden before grinding it.