OUR NATIVE PLANT AND POLLINATOR-FRIENDLY GARDEN

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow…

The words of that old song are coming to life outside of our meetinghouse. With lots of help from the University of Baltimore and Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church volunteers, and coordination by Blue Water Baltimore, the garden along the south side of our building was planted in April 2019. A Garden Club was formed to care for the garden and we are happy to report that the garden is well established.

We celebrated and thanked our partners at an “in the garden” event on September 22, 2019. It was well attended by members and attenders who signed on to the Covenant with One Water Partnership to maintain and improve the garden while making it a community resource for beauty, contemplation, and education. On that day, we were awarded a metal sign announcing that we were certified Bird Friendly Habitat by Patterson Park Audubon.

Volunteers have planted nearly 200 plants and shrubs along the side and in the front of the building. The new garden is supported by two cisterns that capture runoff from the roof. This transformation will demonstrate the benefits of harvesting stormwater and the use of native plants to create beauty and make an urban space more hospitable to birds and pollinators.

We thank our partners the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Blue Water Baltimore, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, and Interfaith Power and Light for making our pollinator garden possible. We will host educational sessions about creating habitat for birds and pollinators and the benefits of reducing stormwater runoff.

Homewood Friends Meeting is part of the One Water Partnership, a network of congregations in the Jones Falls watershed united through a commitment to environmental stewardship.