On Saturday August 27, the Chester County History Center (225 N. High St., West Chester) hosted the Green Team’s memorable dinner reception featuring local manifestations of Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park initiative, stressing native plantings as hosts to native species of insects and other organisms.

Many thanks to the History Center for donating their venue on Aug. 27 and working hard to facilitate our program, and to our suppliers for the event, including The Master’s Baker, creators of a large and marvelous garden-themed cake.

According to the Homegrown National Park map, PA leads the country with 10,023 acres participating and Chester County (where Tallamy, a faculty member at the University of Delaware, lives) leads PA with 139 users and 192 plantings. That’s makes Chesco a national leader, but at .81% of the County registered, we have far to go. Please consider adding your space, or urging local institutions and property owners to do so.

Here are detailed descriptions of gardens planted by the Green Team, the three other groups associated with our August 27 event, and some other allies.

Please view the properties below at your leisure. Links lead to the write-ups on our site (where you can also download pdfs of the same information) and links from there for more information.

Bondsville Mill Park and Gardens in East Brandywine offers an impressive variety of natural growth and plantings with a sizable park in the historic setting of a mill dating back to 1841 and now being restored. See their own web site here. Open dawn to dusk.

Chestnut Street Garage Pollinator Garden installed by the West Chester Business Improvement District in collaboration with the Green eam in downtown West Chester beautifies a strip running the length of a parking garage and welcomes visitors to an increasingly green Borough.

Chester County Art Association planting on the West Chester edge of East Bradford created new gardens with an emphasis on esthetics and on nourishing pollinators.

Heart of Uwchlan Project on the grounds of the Uwchlan Township Building includes a Milkweed garden designated as a “Save the Monarchs” Monarch Habitat, a riparian Streamside Garden, and a Wetland Garden.

Lawn to Native Pollinator Garden Conversion in West Chester: read the steps involved and consider your own move from monoculture to pollinator-friendly plantings.

West Chester: 4 other WCGT-associated gardens: Plantings at Chester County Art Association and History Center plus two verges between street and sidewalk, known as “hellstrips.”

West Vincent Pollinator Pitstop Garden Program has started with a demonstration garden on the Township Building grounds, with activities like milkweed seed and plant giveaways and environmental education for children, and it plans to spread to other township parks.

West Vincent: Carys Egan’s garden, just created, inspired by the work of Doug Tallamy and the West Vincent Township Environmental Advisory Council.

An underlying inspiration for these and many other projects, as well as for residents’ own gardens, is Chesco resident Doug Tallamy’s idea that we can all, on any space large or small, contribute to a Homegrown National Park oriented to pollinator-friendly native plants.

See also:

Phoenixville Area Transition Living Landscapes, assisting in developing healthier growing spaces.

Phoenixville Pollinator Corridor, dedicated to the proliferation of native plants.

Videos of many private West Chester gardens, mostly made by the West Chester Green Team in 2020.