medicine wheel garden

Tucked away in a secluded spot on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg is a tiny oasis featuring native plants used in herbal recipes and remedies. Begun by Native American Tammy Greer (a Psych professor) and the GEIS group, this has become a "project" of the entire university, including some of the fraternities and sororities and has had plants contributed by the Choctaws, environmentalists, and native plant societies. If you want to find the Medicine Wheel Garden, you'll have to do a little exploring. It's tucked behind the Liberal Arts and International Center buildings. But you'll see it, lined with rocks, with painted paths, a "story" bench, and signs for the plants telling you something about them. It's a great walk-through in the mornings as I head into my building for a brief meditation and sometimes in cooler weather, I take an after lunch walk through, always discovering some treasure I hadn't seen before.Just beware: during the week, we have Parking Management who patrols local parking lots rigorously! If you're visiting 8 a.m. -5 p.m. Monday thru Saturday, come onto campus from the Hardy Street Main Entrance and get a Visitor's Pass.