Joining the City of Philadelphia in National Garden Week 2025, celebrating the role of nature in nurturing mental and physical wellness, and recognizing the urgent need for garden equity across the City of Philadelphia.

Joining the City of Philadelphia in National Garden Week 2025, celebrating the role of nature in nurturing mental and physical wellness, and recognizing the urgent need for garden equity across the City of Philadelphia. WHEREAS, Philadelphia is home to more than 30 public gardens within its City limits, more than 400 community gardens, and thousands more private gardens. The number and quality of our gardens has made Philadelphia known as America’s Garden Capital; and WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s arboretums, parks and community gardens are a crown jewel of our City and a core component of Philadelphia’s consistent placement as one of the most walkable and livable cities in the Nation. But some parts of the City have less access to gardens and green spaces than others, disproportionately in lower-income black and brown neighborhoods; and WHEREAS, Gardens improve access to healthy foods and can offer locally rooted jobs to communities, in addition to turning space that is often blighted or vacant into beautiful and productive green space. The presence of a garden improves a community’s aesthetics, safety, and well-being; and WHEREAS, After years of declining numbers of urban farms and community gardens, the City of Philadelphia has re-engaged with urban agriculture and gardening. Including holding multiple urban garden-related hearings and discussions over the past few weeks, centered on Philadelphia’s first modern urban agriculture plan, “Growing from the Root,” which outlines a pa…