Harvest Botanical Gardens

"The gardens were pretty grand."

- Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson

The Harvest Botanical Gardens was a park on the planet Harvest in the Epsilon Indi system used to house and document plant material. It was the planet's largest park after the Utgard Mall, and was located about 150 kilometers southeast of Utgard. The gardens stepped down from the Bifrost in three landscaped tiers, the lowest of which was a broad lawn of close-cropped grass. Magnolia trees grew around the tiers. The Mimir River ended at a waterfall, near the gardens, and turned into the Slidr River. On the garden's eastern edge was a white curvilinear greenhouse with a central elliptical dome and two wings, built based on nineteenth century designs. All plants in the garden were imported from other planets. The greenhouse had three levels, with the second level containing a flagstone path surrounded by flowering cherry and pear trees. The third floor had a large oak table in the center.

History
The Harvest Botanical Gardens were chosen as the meeting place between the humans and the Covenant because of its scenic grandeur and relative distance from any human population center. When the Jiralhanae representatives landed, led by Maccabeus, they were led to the third level of the greenhouse where a fruit basket was waiting for the aliens on the oak table. The human representatives were Governor Nils Thune, Attorney General Rol Pederson, Captain Ponder, Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni, and Staff Sergeants Nolan Byrne and Avery Johnson. The meeting ended poorly when a overeager Unggoy, Yull, attacked and killed a member of Harvest's colonial militia. Pederson was shot and killed with a Type-25 Spiker by Vorenus after the latter had heard Osmo firing his rifle. Several militia members were wounded in the engagement and the Jiralhanae Licinus was heavily injured. With Licinus wounded, the Jiralhanae fell back and the Covenant retreated from the area. Due to the Unggoy's incompetence, Tartarus grabbed the wounded Yull, ripped off his mask, and threw him into the Mimir River's rapids that led to the waterfall. The gardens were likely destroyed when the Covenant glassed the planet.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: Silent Storm