"Endless Forms Most Beautiful": A Cancerous Cactus Garden

We seek funds to support the upkeep of a crested cactus garden that been installed near the new Biodesign building C on the ASU campus in Tempe, AZ. This garden, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", dedicated to people impacted by cancer, is a part of the new Arizona Cancer and Evolution (ACE) Center.

With your support we can buy new cacti specimens, present related programming, and insure that this garden continues to grow and thrive. We envision this garden as a place to remember, a place to celebrate, and a place to contemplate. This can only happen with support from people like you.

The cactus featured in this garden have genetic mutations which can create new and sometimes beautiful forms of life. Cells in these crested cacti get mutations during development that make them start growing out of control, creating beautiful sculptural forms as they develop. This condition is similar to cancer in humans and other animals. Part of being a multi-cellular organism means having cells that divide and can mutate during development. This is a garden of optimism because many forms of life - like the beautiful cacti in this garden - live with mutated cells.

This garden is a part of The Frankenstein Bicentennial Project; a collaboration with the Maley Lab, the Aktipis Lab, and Caspian Gardens (London).

Support for the garden comes from the National Cancer Institute, the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, ASU Biodesign Institute, ASU’s Frankenstein Bicentennial Project, ASU Office of the University Architect and Facility Management Grounds Department, the MOORE / SWICK partnership landscape architects, Trueform,  Airpark Signs, Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, and people who have been impacted by cancer. This garden was created by Athena Aktipis, Carlo Maley, Pamela Winfrey from ASU, Caspian Robertson of Caspian Gardens (London), and many dedicated landscape architects and gardeners.