The Sun Garden

Phase 2 of the Display Garden project was the Sun Garden. It was completed in summer 2009.  The old concrete walls of the original greenhouse at the site define the Sun Garden’s borders.  Additional concrete greenhouse pathways were retained; those that were cut out were recycled to build planters and benches. A diverse mixture of sun-loving, drought tolerant flowering perennials, grasses, shrubs, vines, and trees have been planted in the Sun Garden

The Sun Garden.
The Sun Garden at WSU Pullman.

What thyme is it?

The focal point of the Sun Garden’s courtyard is a “human-powered” analemmatic sundial made of colored stones. This is an interactive feature and is very popular with visitors.

Sun Dial in the sun garden
A visitor tests the accuracy of the sundial in the Sun Garden. Photo by Brian Clark, WSU

With this type of sundial, you are the gnomon, or shadow-casting object, and your shadow indicates the time. If you stand on the date scale (in the center) with your toes on the current month, your shadow will cast on the approximate time. Wooly thyme (pun intended) is planted around the sundial.

Honoring Washington State Heritage

Sculpture in the sun garden
Makah bone carving replica sculpture created by Richard Daugherty on display in the Sun Garden..

The Sun Garden is home to a steel sculpture created by the late WSU Professor Emeritus Richard D. Daugherty (follow this link to read an obituary of Daugherty).  The sculpture is an enlarged replica of a Makah bone carving found at the Ozette Indian Village archaeological site on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Daugherty created this sculpture in honor of his friend and WSU plant pathologist Shirl O. Graham (1918-1976). The sculpture was relocated from the Information Technology building atrium on the Pullman campus to the Sun Garden when Martin Stadium was renovated.

Links to other sections of the Landscape Architecture Display Garden