The Healers Project

Decolonizing Knowledge Within Afro-Indigenous Traditions

» Return to the Gathering Grounds

The Urban Garden

Abbebe Oshun’s Garden: When Abbebe Oshun moved into her house in 2016, there was only concrete and rock. Slowly, over the years, she has transformed her garden, planting bushes, trees and vines that correspond to the orishas. She started with the palm tree out front, and sugar cane out back. Then she added plantain trees, “mar pacífico” and aloe. In her open garage, she has over forty plants in pots. Her favorite, though, is “la prodigiosa,” used for all manner of healings and tending – especially for the many godchildren who pass through her home throughout the year. In the back of her house, she has the spirits’ garden – dedicated to her guardian spirits, and the orishas of her godchildren. It is out front where in between the fronds, and roots, one will find small objects dedicated to Changó, Ogún, Oya, and Oshún.

 

 

Plant Guide for Urban Garden

In front of a chair, some stone marks the base of a tree with a thick, dark brown trunk and heart-shaped leaves, which are mostly green with some beginning to yellow in Abbebe's urban garden

Enredadera a los pies de Chango

Some Siempre Viva grow in a patch of loose earth, with their thick green central stalks very visible, along with their oval-shaped leaves with patterned edges in Abbebe's urban garden

Siempre Viva

On a concrete step sits Siempre Viva, in a small pot, with oval shaped leaves that have patterned edges in Abbebe's urban garden

Siempre Viva

In a blue pot grows Siempre Viva, with green oval-shaped leaves that have patterned edges; the rest of the room appears to be a studio, with a white sculpture of a woman catching the eye in Abbebe's urban garden

Siempre Viva

In the corner where two yellow walls meet hangs a rainbow tapestry, with some barbed wire above; a vine plant grows up the wall and through the barbed wire, while some large blade-like leaves are visible from other plants in Abbebe's urban garden

Enradadera de Oshun

A picture of the Uva de Playa's leaves against the sky; the leaves are large and round, a green color but with red coloring in the stems of each leaf in Abbebe's urban garden

Uva de Playa

An Uva de Playa grows straight up around one trunk against a yellow wall near some other plants; it has large, green, circular leaves and stands above the wall behind it in Abbebe's urban garden

Uva de Playa

On top of yellow cinder blocks grow several potted plants, and in the foreground grows several plants in a red pot, with one that has small, oval shapes leaves and sturdy branches; another that has long, feather-shaped leaves and thin branches; and a third with massive leaves that have many points in Abbebe's urban garden

Un bosque para Oxossi

With the help of a small support, a Tuna grows with its large spines that have had their spikes removed; behind it, a yellow wall topped with a white fence gives a view to outside the garden; this photo is closer to the plant in Abbebe's urban garden

Tuna

With the help of a small support, a Tuna grows with its large spines that have had their spikes removed; behind it, a yellow wall topped with a white fence gives a view to outside Abbebe's urban garden

Tuna

A small Tuna, with large, round spines that have the spikes removed, grows with the aid of a small support, as other plants grow nearby in Abbebe's urban garden

Tuna

A close-up of the leaves of a Siempre Viva: their oval shape and patterned edges are apparent, but so is the dark red coloring barely visible on the leaves' edges in Abbebe's urban garden

Siempre Viva para las Rogativas

A Platano grows against a yellow wall, next to a clothesline and a shovel; the Platano has a trunk of overlapping bark, and thick, green fronds with ends that drape down despite the leaves themselves growing up in Abbebe's urban garden

Platano en el jardín de los espíritus

In front of a yellow wall topped with a white fence looking out to the street, there is a short Platano that grows, with a red stem and large green fronds in Abbebe's urban garden

Platano

A Melon de Cactus grows from a thick tree trunk, partially occluded by the tree's large, green, arrowhead-shaped leaves; the melon has an oval shaped, is covered with spines, and has a brown bulbous bottom in Abbebe's urban garden

Melon de Cactus

The Mar Pacifico grows in the shade, with a single white flower blooming upwards in the center of the plant's delicate stems and heart-shaped leaves; the garden's entrace, a white door, is visible in the background in Abbebe's urban garden

Mar Pacifico

The pink flower of this Mar Pacifico is central to this photo, distracting from the plant's heart-shaped leaves and delicate stems; the background displays a number of other plants, along with a view of outside the garden in Abbebe's urban garden

Mar Pacifico

In loose earth, Malanga, with spade-shaped leaves, grows against a yellow wall; this plant is small and only has four leaves in Abbebe's urban garden

Malanga

Amid several other plants and other flower pots, Lengua de Vaca grows in a black plastic pot by a yellow wall; it has long, feather-like leaves with sharp points at the end, but the leaves' unique coloring - light green, with darker green stripes and yellowing at their ends - is especially eye-catching in Abbebe's urban garden

Lengua de Vaca

A blue sky highlights the pleasant shade created by two tree's canopies: the first tree's trunk is out of frame, with many long, thin leaves in several rows along its branches; and the second grows thick and tall, with huge leaves that have several different points in Abbebe's urban garden

Fruta Bomba

A white door next to a yellow wall topped with a white fence marks the garden's entrance, with a wide variety of different plants immediately next to the door in Abbebe's urban garden

Entrada al jardín de los Orishas

Thick stalks and blade-like leaves of many plants obscure another plant that grows in between, which has feather-shaped leaves colored a deep red in Abbebe's urban garden

En el jardín de los espíritus se esconde Oya

With the outside of the garden visible in the background, a red hanging planter holds a small plant with vibrant purple leaves that are long and thin; another tree next to it has heart-shaped leaves and a thick trunk in Abbebe's urban garden

El Judio de Oya

The picture focuses on three plants: two in a red pot growing together, and one in a brown square pot; empty pots, a yellow wall, and a chair are in the periphery in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

In a square plot of earth, a variety of plants grow, while two yellow walls provide a background, one providing a view outside the garden; this angle emphasizes a plant with arrowhead shapes leaves and a single pink flower, though its wide angle shows many nearby plants in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

In a square plot of earth, a variety of plants grow, while two yellow walls provide a background, one providing a view outside the garden; this angle emphasizes a plant with arrowhead shapes leaves and a single pink flower in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

A variety of plants grow in a square plot of land, with two chairs interspersed; this picture emphasizes the large tree in the center of this square, with long, blade-like leaves that grow out from drooping branches and at thick central trunk in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

A square piece of earth displays a wide variety of plants, with two of the walls of the garden both visible - one against another building, and the other looking out into the street; two chairs sit among the plants in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

In the background sit several chairs against a small yellow wall with a white fence on top, but in front grows a wide variety of plants in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los Orishas

A rainbow-colored tapestry covers a portion of a yellow wall, while some small plants with big, pointed leaves shaped like spades grow in dirt next to a cement path in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los espíritus

A close-up of a plant growing next to a yellow wall; despite its small size, its leaves are large and shaped like a feather quill in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los espíritus

Several plants, with long, blade-like leaves that shoot upwards, grow against a yellow wall, with a white bucket hanging on one of the plants; some other plants grow nearby, and some clothing and other containers are visible in the far right in Abbebe's urban garden

El jardín de los espíritus

In a corner where two walls meet, a brown ceramic pot is obscured by stalks of Caña de azúcar; the length of their blade-like leaves, and the red coloring around the base of their stalks is very apparent in Abbebe's urban garden

Caña de azúcar

In a corner where a yellow walls meet a fence that looks out onto the street, a few Caña de azúcar grow, with thick, light brown stalks and long, green, blade-like leaves in Abbebe's urban garden

Caña de azúcar

Against a yellow wall grows a number of Caña de azúcar, with sturdy stalks and long, green blade-like leaves; some other plants grow nearby, with massive, thick fronds and trunks that look like they are made of overlapping bark in Abbebe's urban garden

Caña de azúcar en el jardín de los espíritus