5 elements of Las Vegas’ Healing Garden explained — PHOTOS
Las Vegas Healing Garden co-creator Jay Pleggenkuhle discusses significance of parts of the garden.
Remembrance wall
The initial remembrance wall was made of wooden pallets and eventually needed to be replaced with a more permanent structure. “We didn’t want a big granite wall or anything like that. We just wanted to keep it simple,” Las Vegas Healing Garden co-creator Jay Pleggenkuhle says. “The wall itself was laid out on a fractal from a nautilus shell. It’s a golden formula found in nature.”
Tree of Life tiles
People stood in a line that stretched two blocks at one point to get a tile in the Love Store parking lot and then paint it on the first of three nights the tiles were offered. “I wanted something where people could contribute a piece of themselves,” Pleggenkuhle says. “I wanted them to be able to contribute something that would be very personal. It’s one thing to plant plants and everything, but I wanted them to actually be able to — for lack of a better term — “sign” the garden.”
Heart and rocks memorial
Healing Garden co-creator Daniel Perez proposed this memorial when he and Pleggenkuhle first met Oct. 2, 2017, to sketch out plans for the garden. “Daniel actually scribbled out a heart,” Pleggenkuhle recalls. “Then he said, ‘Oh, that’s really stupid.’ And I said, ‘No, it makes sense. This is the heart of our community and it’s just been broken. Let’s take this heart and we’ll start developing the garden from that.’ ”
Shakespeare quote
This passage from “Romeo and Juliet” was read by Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic during the Healing Garden’s opening-night ceremonies. Jerbic helped the garden get built by fast-tracking the land-grant process after a call from Pleggenkuhle. “We found the property at 10 o’clock (in the morning),” Jerbic recalls. “He was back at 4 o’ clock with a drawing.”
Waterwall
The waterwall was inspired by a scene in the movie “The Shack,” where a waterfall represents a portal to the afterlife. “It’s that mysterious door to the other side,” says Pleggenkuhle, who came up with the idea.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.