Green Thumbs Chinese Gardening Group
Mission Garden’s timeline gardens would not be complete without telling the story of Chinese people who lived, raised families, worked, and farmed in this area. Since the late 1800s, Chinese farmers have been part of our region’s history. These gardeners brought Chinese plant varieties with them, and also adopted and grew other varieties to sell. The Carrillo house here in Tucson was used by early Chinese immigrants to farm, and would sell their fresh vegetables by wagon. You can see what such a wooden wagon would look like when you visit Mission Garden.
Today, Mission Garden has an active partnership with Tucson Chinese Cultural Center (TCCC) to grow Chinese heritage gardens. TCCC’s mission is dedicated to deepening the understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture in global and local communities. They do this through cultural events, field trips, performances, and their Tucson Chinese School program.
The “Green Thumbs” from TCCC visit Mission Garden regularly to work in the gardens, socialize, and hold their committee meetings. The meetings are held outside in the fresh air under the cool shade of the nearby trees. What will you find in the garden? It will vary from season to season, but some of the common favorites include sweet onions, squash, melons, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers. But members of Tucson’s Chinese community have also shared the seeds of important heirloom varieties for us to grow and sample such as bitter and winter melons, luffa, garlic chives, goji berry leaves and more. We also have several jujube trees that produce a lovely fall harvest every year. In fact, Mission Garden and the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center are among just a handful of locations around Tucson, where you can see and learn about these heirloom varieties that have been locally cultivated since Chinese immigrants settled in Tucson, sometime between 1860 and the mid-1870’s.
To learn more about the TCCC Green Thumbs or get the next date, you can subscribe to the TCCC email list on their website, or contact info@tucsonchinese.org.
Come to Mission Garden any time during our regular open hours to take a walk through the timeline gardens.
