Announcing 2022 Garden for Nature Grantees
We are pleased to announce we were able to award all 14 of the applicants this year! The proposals thrilled us reviewers–so much creative and optimistic work being done out there! Our grant is funded by our members and our annual native plant sale.
Here are the recipients listed in alphabetic order along with a very brief description of their projects:
- Austin Peoples Action Center: They received an award from us last year and will now add another garden. They involved local youth and worked with Temple Har Zion to return native plants to their landscape. You can read about last year’s project here: Austin nonprofit grows prairie garden
- Avondale Gardening Alliance: AGA will work with Pollinator Prairie Patch and Reilly Elementary to install native gardens as well as to strengthen community bonds.
- Berwyn Community Gardeners: Convert a garden to all native plants in Serenity Park.
- Chicago West Side Christian School: Add native plants to front entrance garden.
- Elmhurst University: The Elmhurst Student Garden Club, with support from the Elmhurst University Sustainability Committee, will plant a highly visible landscaped native garden at the Elmhurst University 1871 Heritage Garden. They will also be tracking native bee populations in this new garden.
- Gage Park Latinx Council: Add native trees and shrubs to their urban food forest.
- Hephzibah Children’s Association: Introduce native pollinator plants to the backyard garden at Hephzibah Group Home to support learning, social skills, and mindfulness for their children.
- Nordson Green Earth Foundation: Create a mini-native forest at the Markham, IL Courthouse in order to increase tree equity in the area.
- Piper School Green Team: Install a native garden to educate students, staff, and the community about native plants. Students will use it daily at recess as a reading garden and outdoor classroom.
- Quest Academy: Restore a garden filled with non-native species to one that uses native plants. Students will research plants that best support biodiversity and plant those species. An Elmhurst University botanist will visit and help guide the students in selecting the most appropriate plants. The involved students will present and share what they learned with the larger school community.
- River Forest Community Center: Create a butterfly garden featuring both nectar and host plants that will attract butterflies so that students can interact with and learn from the garden.
- Sherman School of Excellence: Incorporate native trees and shrubs that also provide edible fruits
- St. Edward Catholic Church: Create garden spaces that reflect the harmony of nature.
- Westchester Public Library: Convert a sizable section of turf into a flourishing pollinator sanctuary, featuring a variety of native host and nectar plants.
All very inspiring! We want to thank Ken Williams and Christine Nye who helped Doug Chien and Stephanie Walquist score the applications. We look forward to watching these gardens grow.