Courtesy of Tatiana Bilbao Estudio
Grand Center’s newest residential development, On Olive, features a one-of-a-kind amenity: a food forest. In this edible garden, pathways weave among rows of asparagus, lavender, sea kale, lovage, and nearly two dozen other species of plants. The food-producing landscape, or foodscape, is nestled among the development’s single-family houses and condominiums, giving residents easy access to fresh chives for their dinner plate or a persimmon for a midday snack.
“It’s a unique garden in that it’s more of a foraging experience,” says Matt Lebon, owner of Custom Foodscaping, the local company that designed and installed the project. “Residents can walk around and pick things as well as enjoy the flowers.”
Custom Foodscaping collaborated with Mexico City–based architecture firm Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, one of several working on the project. Over the course of four months, Lebon and his team brainstormed plans for the space that incorporated various colors, heights, and textures, in addition to providing a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Tatiana Bilbao Estudio “created 3-D images and thought-provoking patterns that we wouldn’t typically consider,” Lebon says. “Then we worked to create what was ultimately something we could do in reality.”
The idea for a food forest came from Emily Rauh Pulitzer, the philanthropist and arts patron, and Steve Trampe, principal of Owen Development, who wanted to bring a new housing concept to the area. Pulitzer had previously been involved with Park-Like, the prairie across from the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and she says she wanted to create “a community within a community” that would combine well-designed houses with great amenities and the opportunity to spend time in nature.
“There isn’t any project like this in the country,” says Trampe. “This is such an amazing opportunity for St. Louis. This is something very, very different and says a lot about what we can do in this town architecturally from an innovative standpoint.”
Photography by Virginia Harold
The Custom Foodscaping team
The planting of the food forest was completed this fall, just before Trampe and his team begin officially marketing the development’s housing options to prospective homebuyers. But Custom Foodscaping’s work isn’t done. Lebon’s plans include introducing a few slightly more exotic species that couldn’t be planted in the fall, as well as performing maintenance to keep the area in peak shape.
“Right now, there’s no shade. The trees and bushes are small,” Lebon says. “As the trees get bigger and bigger, different sun, shade, and moisture components are going to reveal themselves, and then plants are going to need to change over time, because that’s what nature does. Eventually it will reach its max productivity…and we’ll swap out some of the plants.”
Lebon hopes that the food forest will help residents reestablish a connection to the seasons. He wants to see residents get excited about the plants and share cooking tips. Most of all, he, Pulitzer, and Trampe hope that by offering this amenity, residents will have a reason to come together more often.
The food forest offers “the ability to go out and pick some things and maybe embellish a salad with something that you typically wouldn’t buy at the market,” says Trampe, “but more important than that, it is a community space. It’s a great place for people to meet and talk. It should bring a lot of the residents outside, and that’s part of building a community.”
