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/Neighbors working together to beautify Lorenzo Allen Park.
Spring is in full swing, and Petworth Blooms is currently raising money for our spring and summer plantings. If you don’t know about our group, we are a small, all volunteer 501(c)(3) that works to beautify the public green spaces in Petworth and adjoining neighborhoods. I’ve been writing about the flowers and beautiful colors you see around the neighborhood here on Petworth News in the Petworth Blooming series.
As the soil is warming up, we will be planting annuals like marigolds, petunias, celosias and zinnias. We also plant native perennials which come back year-after-year and provide food sources for our native pollinators and birds.
We receive small grants from both ANC 4C and 4D, but rely on donations from neighbors like you for most of our funding. If you’d like to help out, you can easily donate online — even small amounts help!
We host at least two volunteer events each month, with our main areas of focus being Grant Circle, Lorenzo Allen Park and the triangle park at 4th & Buchanan.
If you’re new to the area, check out some before and after photos showing a little bit of the work we’ve done in those parks:
In Grant Circle we have been slowing trying to tame the vines since 2018, working section by section. Last year was the first year that all the central beds were (mostly) vine free.
Southeast side of Grant Circle in 2018
Compared to more recently
East side of Grant Circle in 2019
Compared to more recently
Lorenzo Allen Park got some upgrades from the city in 2021, including new benches and sidewalks. It was left to the community to plant flowers in the central flower bed, so Petworth Blooms organized a planting event with neighbors in May of that year. Last year we also added additional flower beds along the 9th street side of the park, and hope to do more work this year.
Central flower bed at Lorenzo Allen Park in May 2021.
And how it looked recently
The triangle park at 4th & Buchanan had a large dying tree removed in 2018, and the city added a few replacement trees that same year. Since then Petworth Blooms has worked to increase the size of the flower beds and added benches for seating in the park and at the bus stop.
Tree all by itself in August of 2018
And how it recently looked
We have also done work at numerous other green spaces in the neighborhood including the rain gardens by Pizza Hut at Kansas & Georgia. This year we are planning to work with some of the tenants at Taylor Towers to improve the rain garden in front of their building at Georgia and Taylor.
The Pizza Hut parking lot in August 2019
And a year later…
We’ve also planted lots of tulips and daffodils at 1st & Ingraham, 4th & Gallatin, 5th & Emerson, 8th & Farragut, 8th & Randolph, and at Roosevelt High School. If you are interested in taking stewardship of a specific park, please reach out through our Petworth Blooms website.
Roosevelt High School in April of 2023
So what's blooming next in Petworth? We’ll talk about that next time!
If you’ve found yourself walking around our beautiful neighborhood admiring the flowers and wondering what you’re looking at, check out "Petworth Blooming,” our popular series featuring some of the most common plants and flowers seen around Petworth. Follow and support Steve at PetworthBlooms.org and see more photos at @petworthblooms on Instagram.
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