Caleb Melchior
  • Home
  • What I'm Doing Now
  • Planting Design
    • Chapman Botanical Garden
    • The Meadow
    • Frontier Farm Credit
    • Poetic Image Studio
    • Farm on the Roof
  • Writing
    • Memos to Myself Prologue
  • Illustration
    • Illustration
    • Rendering
    • Garden to Plate
    • Sketchbooks
  • Journal
  • Home
  • What I'm Doing Now
  • Planting Design
    • Chapman Botanical Garden
    • The Meadow
    • Frontier Farm Credit
    • Poetic Image Studio
    • Farm on the Roof
  • Writing
    • Memos to Myself Prologue
  • Illustration
    • Illustration
    • Rendering
    • Garden to Plate
    • Sketchbooks
  • Journal
In Apalachicola, Florida, the Chapman Botanical Garden was intended to memorialize a well-regarded Florida botanist, Dr Alvin Wentworth Chapman (Cox 2010).  Today, however, the site (of approximately  10 acres) is barely a fitting tribute.  The site lacks interest and has little to draw visitors.  While western Florida is home to many National Forests and other sensitive natural habitats, many of these are not accessible to humans.  By exploring methods to create an immersive learning environment that affords a pleasurable multi-sensual aesthetic experience while building deep knowledge of socio-ecological relationships at the Chapman Botanic Garden, this project can transform the human understanding of natural systems in an area that has deep ecological and social needs.  Given the tourism prevalent in Apalachicola and the surrounding area, the garden offers the potential to be a strong asset for the community if developed into an asset to the West Florida Coast.  
The Underutilized Crop Orchard and adjacent Community Gardens provide an opportunity for testing of and education about regionally-appropriate edible crops
Paths of staggered stone will enable visitors to meander through the rare pitcherplants in the Carnivorous Plant Gardens
The Rhododendron Ramble utilizes existing woodland, incorporating new underplanting to set up conditions for a celebration of Florida's slow transition from winter to spring
The rough bark of slash pines will contrast with the smooth stems of cabbage palm in the entry plaza
Nestling the visitor's center into the terrain will enable it to blend inconspicuously into the landscape, while sculptural planting of agaves and cucumbertree magnolias
The existing site separates human activity areas from areas of dynamic regional vegetation
Existing garden areas are underdeveloped
The existing succulent collection neglects indigenous regional flora
Proudly powered by Weebly