Danielle Petti – Waterloo/Traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron

Marigold, Amaranth, and Anise Hyssop (summer 2025)

I was fortunate to consult with Christina on a garden installation surrounding my outdoor sculpture of rammed earth columns. The marigold seeds she sent took nicely, they’re mixed in with others that were donated and transplanted from someone’s home garden in London 🙂 The anise hyssop came up quite late, surprisingly, but they found their way! I wasn’t so lucky with the amaranth. I also added a few already established native plants at the back (cone flower and tickweed) to keep the ones Christina sent company.
I approached this project with a humble mind and heart, knowing I was entering an ecological complexity that’s still new to me. Caring for these seeds became part of the material of the work. The biochar in the installation mixed into the soil where the marigolds grew, and I can’t help but think they liked it, since they did so well. It’s an evolving garden and installation. I’ll be going back soon to plant more seeds to stratify over the winter.
[read a bit more about the biochar project]