Rendering of the renovated Education Center at the Oakhurst Garden in Decatur.
Wylde Center is seeking $2.8 million to support capital infrastructure improvements to four of our greenspaces. These improvements will allow Wylde to continue to connect the metro Atlanta community to nature through its gardens and expanded education opportunities.
The improvements being made through our 25th Anniversary Capital Campaign will fulfill the growing educational and environmental needs of our community. Currently, our capacity to grow our education programs is bottlenecked by the limitations imposed by our inadequate facilities and environmental challenges. We serve just over 11,000 students at this time, but as a result of the campaign project improvements, we project serving 25,000 students annually in 2026, with 10,000 of those students participating through field trips at our five gardens.
Support our capital campaign that will update and transform our sites today.
Overview of Wylde Center Improvements
Oakhurst Garden in Decatur
Oakhurst Garden is a 1.5 acre greenspace located in one of the most densely populated cities in Georgia. It was created in 1997 and is the oldest of Wylde Center’s gardens. It was established to create a place for children in the community to explore nature and to grow and prepare produce they had grown.
The focus of the work being completed at this site as part of the capital campaign will be on the transformation of our 1950’s structure into an education center to better meet the demands of our growing education programs including field trips, camps, weekend scout programs, and afterschool programs. In addition, the beautiful new space will support our events and volunteer program. Every year, more than 3,000 students and 500 volunteers visit this site for field trips and service work.
To address the increased rainfall and flooding at the Oakhurst Garden, a series of engineered rain gardens and bioswales will be installed.
Hawk Hollow in Atlanta
Hawk Hollow is a 1 acre garden located in Atlanta's Kirkwood neighborhood. In 2012, the original two overgrown lots were donated to Wylde Center. Over the last 11 years, Wylde Center staff and volunteers have transformed this site into a shady meadow featuring native flowers, trees, and shrubs. Every year, more than 1,000 students for field trips and 500 volunteers for service work visit this site.
In the early phase of this capital campaign, Wylde Center was able to acquire two adjacent parcels to Hawk Hollow thus doubling the size of this neighborhood garden.
A pavilion will be added featuring a screened in area that will provide shelter for the visiting students where currently there is no shelter available. The pavilion will also reduce the incidences when a program has to be canceled due to pending weather. Once built, the pavilion will allow us to expand our program outreach to scouts and new school partners.
Mulberry Fields in Atlanta
Mulberry Fields is a 1.5 acre garden located in the heart of Atlanta's Candler Park neighborhood. Established in 1999 and came under Wylde Center management in 2016.
Named after a beloved goat of times past, Mulberry Fields is an acre of open meadow, mulberry groves, flower gardens, and towering old pecan trees. It offers an accessible greenspace for recreation, environmental education, community building, and organic growing. A haven for urban wildlife, the garden also shelters neighborhood hawks, owls, bluebirds and a variety of woodpecker species. Present-day Mulberry Fields was once part of a late 19th century dairy farm.
The focus of the work being completed at this site as part of the capital campaign will be systems to manage the flooding and erosion taking place during more frequent and intense rain showers. Wylde Center is working with a landscape architect and civil engineering firm to redirect the rainwater into a system of rain gardens that slow down water run off, reduce onsite flooding and erosion, and alleviate pressure on the City of Atlanta’s stormwater system.
Edgewood Community Learning Garden in Atlanta
Edgewood Community Learning Garden is a .5 acre garden located in Atlanta's Edgewood neighborhood. The garden was created in 2009 and came under Wylde Center management in 2012 with a focus on engaging the immediate community with this important greenspace. The garden was renovated in 2015 and in 2017, a community center was added. This garden is visited each year by 1,000 students and 300 volunteers.
The focus of the work being completed at this site as part of the capital campaign will be to reinstall the rainharvest system that will be used to irrigate the gardens on site. In addition, the building was made program ready with the addition of a fire panel.
In 2023, we successfully added a community garden adjacent to the Edgewood Garden. The beds are free and are now offering 16 families the opportunity to grow food where before there was not an opportunity. In addition, our key partner for this project, The Zeist Foundation, will be donating the Edgewood Garden and building to Wylde Center by year's end.
