Soon, the beauty of last week's Philadelphia Flower Show will be transferred to city land.
In a revitalization effort on the part of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, all $1 million raised by the show will be used to facilitate anti-blight "greening" of abandoned plots of land in Philadelphia.
Last year, PHS secured a $4 million contract from Mayor Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. The society will use the Flower Show's profits to fund this effort, which calls for the reclaiming of 1,000 vacant city lots during the spring planting season.
Specifically, the campaign will be conducted by PHS' Philadelphia Green, an urban greening program established in 1974.
"The purpose of [the project] is to begin to change the perception of the neighborhoods," said Blaine Bonham, executive vice president of PHS and founder of Philadelphia Green. We want to "make neighborhoods more attractive for future homeowners."
In the spring, Philadelphia Green will focus its efforts in six neighborhoods, including two sections of North Philadelphia. Vacant lots in these areas will benefit from the planting of grass and trees and, in some cases, the erection of split-rail fences.
Initial work in these communities has already begun, with Philadelphia Green clearing 700,000 square feet of land during the fall planting season.
Though the plans call for relatively simple and cheap improvements, Philadelphia Green members emphasized the success of similar PHS and NTI programs completed in the past.
The revitalization effort "has been more successful beyond what we could think," Bonham said. "It's not that expensive to do, and the reaction that we're getting from residents is pretty amazing."
Steve Maurer, who is also with the PHS, emphasized that "the key to community revitalization and maintenance is that it's an ongoing process."
Bonham agreed, citing PHS and Philadelphia Green's history of land revivification in Philadelphia.
"We probably do a couple hundred projects throughout the city every year," Bonham said. In this way, "all of the funds that come into Philadelphia Green, including the flower fund, go right back into the community."
According to Maurer, such continuous efforts support PHS' desire "to be a visible resource of the Philadelphia community."
Land improvement, however, is not conducted solely by PHS members.
During each of its gardening projects, Philadelphia Green works closely with community organizations and volunteers to clear the land and plant the greenery.
Even after the projects are completed, "all of the gardens and tree plantings are cared for by volunteers that live there," according to Bonham.
The PHS executive called gardening an invigorating activity for both the individual and the community.
"It really is kind of like soul food, with the kind of personal return you get when you garden," Bonham said. "When you start to put that on a larger scale, you begin to imagine what it can do for the whole city."
