[ photo TK]
Materials and Methods
The Trigger Planting Garden, located between the Milstein Center and Barnard Hall, is a living, growing, and expanding extension of Trigger Planting 2.0. First planted in 2024, the garden features a collection of plants with abortifacient, emmenagogic, and contraceptive properties. Along with many other medicinal and ecological properties, these plants were chosen specifically to highlight the practice and lineage of herbal abortion, as well as the many historical ways people have managed and cared for their fertility.
Under the guidance of Keith Gabora, former Lead Groundskeeper we located an appropriate spot on campus with the first planting taking place in late spring, 2024. Due to extended construction at Barnard Hall, the garden was temporarily transplanted into movable felt planters in fall 2024, before being relocated to its current semi-permanent site in late spring 2025. The garden is a collaboration, planted collectively through workshops, workdays, and informal gatherings with students, faculty, staff, and friends. Participants have included members of the Reproductive Justice Collective, the Garden Club, the Barnard Greenhouse, the Department of Architecture, the Center for Engaged Pedagogy, the Design Center, the Barnard Health Center, and Barnard Groundskeeping and Facilities Team.
Variations in soil composition, light exposure, irrigation, drainage, and compaction across sites shaped which plants were able to successfully grow. As with any garden, it is a learning process. As of spring 2026, the garden includes Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Oregano (Origanum vulgare), Sweet Flag (Acorus americanus), Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata), with biennial Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) dispersed throughout the site.
We will be able to grow in this space through 2027, and we hope to continue programming in and around the garden site, including plant labels, garden tours, ecological bug-snug structure building, cyanotype workshops, and more.
-Landon