ISU interns create 3D illustrations of new community inspiration garden

Surveying from a birds-eye view the designs of the Jasper County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach office’s recently announced community inspiration garden certainly gives people an idea of what the project could look like. But a virtual 3D tour of the plan shows what the garden could feel like.

Immersed in the shade of computer-generated trees, Rising Star interns Jake Guthrie and Kaylee Kleitsch, who are both seniors at ISU, navigate through the winding paths. The stone and concrete trails guide them through the children’s exploratory garden, the butterfly garden and the natural prairie garden.

All the while they marvel at the learning gazebo at the center of the community inspiration garden, as well as the pollinator, herb and comfrey beds along the west side. This state-of-the-art illustration created by these two students is the result of feedback and ideas from local Master Gardeners.

Within the next few years and after a great deal of fundraising, the project will come to fruition and become the newest “interactive educational experience Newton has to offer,” ISU Extension and Outreach program coordinator Carol Camp said in mid-June when she announced the project to the city council.

Guthrie is studying landscape architecture while Kleitsch is studying agriculture and rural policy. The project is a natural fit for their academic expertise.

Although the community inspiration garden will be managed by the extension and outreach office and the Master Gardeners, the Rising Star interns have given the project a huge boost by creating a more detailed and fully realized plan. Using the skills they acquired at ISU, the two have generated a 3D mockup of the garden.

What initially began as a hand-drawn sketch has evolved into a cleaner design that has given Master Gardeners and other volunteers a proper layout for constructing the garden beds and laying the groundwork for more amenities. Camp has said the Rising Star interns give the project “a new perspective.”

“A lot of the horticulture things are up to the Master Gardeners. It’s their project and we don’t want to step on any toes. They’re the ones who will have to maintain this thing for years and years and years,” Kleitsch said. “They’re picking a lot of nice plants and I’ve done a lot of research on suggestions.”

In addition to the design work and providing support, Kleitsch and Guthrie create marketing materials and publications for the inspiration garden project, which Camp hopes will be a no-wifi-required space where people of all ages and abilities can engage their senses, learn and feel connected by nature.

As part of their internship, Kleitsch and Guthrie regularly post blogs about their progress. In the July 1 blog entry, the two say they finalized their design of the pollinator garden and roped off and killed the grass on the site. The week before, they detail the work required to smooth the ground of the donation ground.

When it came to designing the layout, Camp introduced Kleitsch and Guthrie to similar areas like the Newton Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. She wanted them to get a sense of what was already in the community. The community inspiration garden should be separate from other areas in town.

“And I was kind of looking at other gardens and parks that I could kind of go off of,” Guthrie said. “But our clients do not want us to copy anyone else’s work or designs. They want this all to be original to the inspiration garden. We saw other places, but not many other places have designs like this.”

Kleitsch added, “They’re very big on originality and making sure that it’s not just copy and paste. They want people to actually want to come here to see it, not just go somewhere else and see the exact same thing.”

Using the feedback and sketches from the Master Gardeners as a base and the inspiration gathered from other gardens, the interns settled on a design. Over time the Master Gardeners would give interns more input and suggestions, prompting changes to the overall design.

“Now they all seem pretty happy with the design,” Guthrie said, noting the Master Gardeners have also seen the virtual tour and “absolutely loved it.”

Kleitsch added, “We’ve got a lot of feedback, positive and negative. Which are both great! We need to hear that. We need them to be honest if we want to have the best garden we possibly can … It’s just kind of mind-blowing to think in three to five years our brainstorming is going to be an actual thing.”

A garden where they can tour in-person rather than through a computer screen.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com