Good news for West Philly green thumbs! After being closed to customers since last spring due to the COVID pandemic, Greensgrow Farms is set to reopen its West Philly hub, Greensgrow West this winter.

Greensgrow West, located at 5123 Baltimore Ave., is scheduled to reopen on February 27th with the following hours: Thursday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.. Like many other businesses, Greensgrow has been hit hard by the pandemic and after reopening Greensgrow West will first carry limited selection of items.  Continue Reading

April is the month when many folks start visiting local garden centers to buy plants for their gardens. Many plant sales are also held in April or early May. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, all physical plant sales have been cancelled and garden centers have been closed unless they’re a part of a larger store, like Lowe’s. So what can you do? Here are a few options where you can order plants and pick them up locally.

Since the annual Spruce Hill May Fair has been cancelled, the University City Garden Club is holding an online plant sale (until 11 a.m. on Monday, April 20). There is a large selection of annuals and perennials, and herb and vegetable plants. Orders will be available for pickup on Saturday, May 2 on Woodland Terrace near the 40th Street Trolley Portal. Go here for more info and to shop.  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy of The Woodlands.

The Woodlands Cemetery’s popular gardening program, Grave Gardeners, will return this spring and some spots are still remaining for those who are interested in participating.

The Grave Gardeners program accepts volunteers who each will be assigned a cradle grave (designed in the Victorian era) to adopt at The Woodlands, located at 40th and Woodland. The Grave Gardeners tend to their assigned cradle grave throughout the growing season, from March to November. Gardeners will receive a wide variety of plant material (seeds, plugs and bulbs).  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy of The Woodlands.

Do you want to learn how to tend to planters and help beautify a historical cemetery in West Philly? The Woodlands is currently accepting applications for their 2019 Grave Gardeners program.

The Grave Gardeners are a group of volunteers who are each assigned a “cradle grave” at The Woodlands. These graves were originally designed to be planters and would have been planted and cared for by loved ones in the Victorian era. The Grave Gardeners tend to their assigned cradle grave throughout the entire growing season, from March to November. A wide variety of plant material will be provided to gardeners by The Woodlands. Group workshops, demonstrations, and planting happy hours are also scheduled throughout the season.  Continue Reading

Carol Jenkins (left) gardening at Clark Park with Lisa McDonald Hanes and Susie Pierce, gardener volunteers. (Photos courtesy of Friends of Clark Park)

Editor’s Note: This post has been submitted by Anna Selfridge, Vice President of Friends of Clark Park.

If you’ve strolled through Clark Park this past summer, you might have noticed the rejuvenation of the gardens along the park’s sidewalks and borders. This welcome change was the result of the new Gardening Program at Friends of Clark Park. The program is headed by Carol Jenkins, who has lived on the border of the park for 30 years.

“Since I spend so much time in Clark Park, I felt I needed to do something when I saw wild trees growing up through flowering shrubs, and weeds taking over flower gardens,” she said.

Carol joined the Friends following her retirement from teaching at Temple University specifically to put her green thumb to work.  Continue Reading

The Jewish Farm School, a Philly-based environmental education nonprofit, recently received a grant to run a series of early childhood garden-based education program in West Philadelphia. The Side Yard Seedlings program is launching May 31 and will offer a dozen sessions on weekdays and Sundays this summer and fall. Children ages 2 to 6 and their caregivers will be gathering at the Jewish Farm School garden at 50th and Cedar for 90-minute sessions to care for plants and for age-appropriate games and activities connected to the cycles of the seasons and the themes of the Hebrew calendar.  Continue Reading