Beal Botanical Garden expands Indigenous scholarship

November marks Native American Heritage Month — a time to honor and celebrate the history, culture and ongoing contributions of Indigenous peoples across North America. At Michigan State University, this month and beyond, we recognize the university’s connection to the Tribal Nations of Michigan, including the Anishinaabe people, whose land the university occupies.

Located within Michigan State University’s Beal Botanical Garden is the Four Sisters Garden, a project started in 2023 by recent College of Arts and Letters graduate Mikayla Thompson. Care and development of the garden continue to be a collective effort to highlight Indigenous plant knowledge and systems through collaboration with the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center and the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment, or RISE.

"Beal Botanical Garden believes in cultivating the garden as a shared community space. This includes inclusive storytelling, collaborative stewardship and diverse ways of knowing,” said Botanical Lead and Head Horticulturist Bethany Troy. “We strive to be a space where many communities, within MSU and beyond, create connections with plants, place and each other.”

To support this mission, Beal Botanical Garden hosts free programs and events designed to educate and engage both students and the broader Lansing community, even employing students through its Beal Scholars program, which allows students to take on projects to help share stories and expand plant knowledge within the community.

“Our Beal Scholars program is a mentored internship that bridges academics with real-world, hands-on practice,” said Collections Manager Katie Fry. “Our Beal Scholar, Isabella, is focusing her project on how Beal Botanical Garden can incorporate Indigenous storytelling and plant knowledge into our space.”

Second-year forestry major and Indigenous connections Beal Scholar, Isabella Leksche Rosales, is creating a comprehensive guide to Indigenous plants to increase awareness and access to this knowledge.

“My main task since joining has been to create a botanical resource detailing Indigenous plant usage. I have mostly been involved in research at the library, finding and recording Indigenous plant guides and cultural resources,” Leksche Rosales said. “I have also worked on a social media post series promoting awareness of the Four Sisters Garden for Native American Heritage Month.”

Visit the Beal Botanical Garden’s Instagram page.

Four Sisters is an Iroquois method of planting complementary crops that have sustained Indigenous communities for thousands of years and are now used across the continent. The sisters refer to individual plants, each playing a specific role to benefit the others and create a natural ecosystem.

The first sister is corn (Mandaamin in Ojibwe, the language of the Anishinaabe people), planted first, which provides a natural trellis for the beans to grow on. Beans (Mskwaadiisminak) are the second sister, adding nitrogen to the soil. The third sister is squash (Kosmaan), which provides protection from small animals, like rabbits. The fourth sister may be sunflowers (Giiso-Waa’aaskoneh), amaranth or another crop that provides food for pollinators.

The Four Sisters Garden at MSU reflects the importance and responsibility of maintaining relationships that honor balance and cultural diversity for future generations. The garden creates community building and pathways to exploring Indigenous culture, languages and ways of life.

Those caring for the garden ensure Native traditions continue through the seasons — from tasseling corn leaves to harvesting crops, canning for winter and storytelling. Fry emphasized that this work is essential to deepening the garden’s relationship with its surrounding community.

“Isabella is helping to enrich the garden with what we grow, while supporting our mission of interconnectedness,” Fry said. “Her research includes identifying Michigan plants that have ties to Indigenous community.”

Projects like Leksche Rosales’ play a pivotal role in connecting the project to the unique Michigan agriculture and the Lansing ecosystem.

“As we continue to expand the garden with more Michigan plants, we are holding space for people to find connections and share their stories,” Fry said. “Beal Botanical Garden is part of the Red Cedar River floodplain, and what we plant matters not only to building relationships with each other, but also with wildlife around us.”

The Beal Botanical Garden’s Four Sisters Garden has continued to gain traction, inspiring others to share their experiences, boosting attendance at the garden and promoting more projects like it. Keep a lookout for the Conjure Garden in 2026!

Want to know more about Indigenous plants and traditions? Planning to bring a class or group to the garden? Email wjbeal@msu.edu.