Howard County’s first public garden will not shy away from the land’s complicated history: a former plantation where enslaved people lived.

A living tribute featuring heritage crops and herbs used by enslaved peoples should be part of the garden, according to a newly released report from the county’s public garden focus group.

The public garden, announced last April by Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, will be located on the Longwood property, which spans 100 acres in western Howard’s Glenwood.

The county established a focus group to provide recommendations on how to transform the former plantation property into a public garden.

The living tribute to enslaved people would feature okra, peanuts, collard greens, sage, mint and thyme.

To honor the original people of the land, the focus group also recommended a Native American Garden. This garden would include plants that were known to be used by Native Americans and educational materials on traditional growing techniques and plant husbandry.

The group also suggested a medicinal garden that would honor Native American and enslaved people’s plant-based medicines and the doctors who lived and worked on the property. The plantation was established as Longwood in 1813 by Dr. Gustavus Warfield, who is believed to have practiced medicine there and used the stately home as a hospital.

The medicinal garden would teach visitors about traditional botanical uses and contemporary uses of plants for well-being.

“With the support of our community, we hope to determine the most respectful and appropriate way in which we can display this history,” Ball said in a statement.

To learn more about the site’s history, with an emphasis on the lived experiences of Indigenous and enslaved peoples, the focus group recommended that the county work with historians and archaeologists.

Ball thanked the focus group for their work on imagining how the public garden “will be a place of cultivated beauty where residents and visitors of all ages and abilities can come together to embrace Mother Earth and improve their physical and mental well-being in a peaceful setting.”

The focus group recommended that a majority of the plants in the public garden be native species.

“We envision a public garden that is a special place of beauty, inspiration, and learning for the residents of Howard County, as well as growing into a national destination,” wrote Stephanie Oberle, chair of the public garden focus group, in the report’s letter to Ball.

Other recommendations include developing educational programming, camps, exhibits and garden events. The group also recommended a cafe, a large indoor space for performances and events, classrooms, dedicated spaces for children and teenagers, and an outdoor amphitheater.