Jessica Bullen Orchard & Quiet Garden

For her passion, dedication, and love for her community.

The late Jessica Bullen, former treasurer of Quann Community Garden, was a biking, gardening, and community activist in Madison, Wisconsin. She had recently finished her graduate work in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UW-Madison, and received the Outstanding Student of the Year award. Tragically, she died from injuries sustained while biking when she was struck by an inattentive driver in mid-2005. She was 29 years old.

Jess liked quiet, beautiful, and peaceful urban spaces where you could go to contemplate life. The Jessica Bullen Orchard & Quiet Garden was created to remember her, and is located across the gravel road from Quann Community Garden at 204 Bram Street in Madison. Come and explore this south-side jewel: a small urban organic orchard that encourages people to gather and linger. Some tidbits:

The boulder contains a quote from one of Jess's favorite books Love in the Time of Cholera.
The council ring is a symbol of equality (the well-known landscape architect Jens Jensen "popularized" council rings in Madison; he also built one as a memorial [for his grandson]).
The turtle is present because Jess loved turtles and had a large turtle collection. The turtle needs some TLC. If you're an artist and could repair the turtle, please contact Jim Winkle.

Help yourself to fruit! But please leave enough for others.

This little orchard inspired a movement to allow edible landscaping in parks and other public lands.

To volunteer to help maintain this space (training provided, no need to be a member of Quann Community Garden), contact Jim.

Video montage of construction and dedication of the orchard

History

This space was originally a vacant lot. In 2006, there were two design charrettes led by Sam Dennis, professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at UW-Madison. In 2007, the City of Madison put in a sidewalk on the property to enhance safety for pedestrians, we received a neighborhood grant from the city of Madison for $9,850 for the council ring and rain garden, and the council ring was built. Several workdays were held in spring, 2008, and the site was dedicated on May 24.

Jess was an avid and experienced bicyclist. At the garden and at executive committee meetings, she was rarely seen without her bike and helmet close by. In participation with the People for Parks program, Quann Community Garden purchased and installed a bike rack at the garden in 2006 to serve the needs of those who bike to the garden.

The original trees were: Mt. Royal Plum, Toka Plum, Contender Peach, Russian Quince, Montmorency Cherry, Liberty Apple, Black Gold Cherry, Stella Cherry (2 of these). Of the originals, the peach and one Stella Cherry remains. The cherry is spectacular and bears thousands of delicous sweet cherries every June.

Updates

2025: Many trees have died in recent years and weeds have embedded themselves into the flower beds and council ring floor. A team of folks are cleaning things up and the site is already looking better: new stones in the council ring (thanks to the City!), some new fruit trees, flowers around the dedication boulder, and edging bricks now line flower beds. We'll add a few more trees next year or perhaps this fall.

2015: Most trees produced well this year! The Russian Quince was diseased, so we replaced it with another. We were growing clover around the trees to fix nitrogen in the soil, but weeding proved to be too labor intensive so we are now using wood-chip mulch.

2014: The tree bark on the Lapin cherry peeled off late last summer and wasn't going to make it, so it was replaced with a Liberty apple.

2013: Jessica's grandmother Elsie Bullen passed away in June, 2013. She asked that family and friends donate to Jess' orchard. We appreciate their support and Elsie's initiative to help us keep the memory of Jess alive.

2009: The orchard hosted an exhibit about Quann Community gardeners from August - November entitled Sowing Stories. It featured large photographs of gardeners alongside quotations about why gardening at Quann Community Garden is important to them.

See the Sowing Stories Pics section for the gorgeous photos with quotes from Quann gardeners.

Committee Members

Thanks so much to everyone who donated money or time to the orchard project; without you, it wouldn't have happened! It was truly an honor for us to work on this project.

Jim Winkle, chair
Cheryl DeWelt Robinson
Michael Fay
Bryan Fay
Pamela Hathaway
Kathryn Pereira
Barbara Feeney

Jess giving a tour of Quann Community Garden

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