Beautification of our Passyunk Square area has been one of the civic association’s major tenets throughout its existence, and listed below are some prime examples of the fruits of the hard work that volunteers like you have engaged in over the past few years. You’ll also notice headings of “The Present” and “The Future”, which show how the progress we make is continual and can be developed with your insights and ideas. For any general beautification interest in our Passyunk Square area, email us at beautification@passyunk.org, and to be on the Google group page for beautification projects, please email passyunkbeautiful@googlegroups.com.

Community Gardens

Over the past few years, volunteers have helped to create two wonderful community gardens in Passyunk Square, where healthy, pesticide-free foods and beautiful flowers are being grown, and where, more importantly, a greater sense of community is being fostered.

The Present:

Capitolo Community Garden at 10^th and Federal Sts is a 40+ plot garden that arose out of the remnants of a vacant corner of Capitolo Park in the spring of 2009, where the most recent use had been as an old baseball field. After inquiring about the land’s availability, the generous and accommodating advisory board at Capitolo got the city to remove a rusted backstop, metal fencing, and concrete, and allowed volunteers to erect a fence, create their own raised beds, and begin transforming the land. Members pay $45 per year to use the space for their greening pleasures, and participate in common area workdays that include activities such as mulching common pathways, building new flower boxes, painting the storage shed, and filling water barrels. Interest is so substantial that there is presently a continually-growing wait list of nearly 30 people. Graciously, Capitolo Community Garden was awarded one of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s First Place Honors in its yearly garden awards at the 2010 Flower Show. To inquire about getting on the wait list, or other info, please email capitologarden@gmail.com .

Hope Community Garden, or Ellsworth Hope Garden, is a pocket-sized green space at 12^th and Ellsworth sts, which was birthed out of Mayor Nutter’s initial citywide cleanup day in April of 2008. Many existing raised beds were unearthed from the overgrownspace, and new beds were added, the land was weeded, and the garden currently boasts plots for approximately 15-20 local gardeners. Under the leadership of area resident Matt Wooten, with help from local composting expert Tim Bennett of Bennett Compost, the garden has become increasingly sustainable and organized. There is a wait list of around 10-15 people for this spot as well, and for additional information, please contact Matt Wooten at mtwooten@gmail.com.

The Future:

Know of any vacant lots on your block or immediate area that could use some greening? Let us know, and with a little work, the next great community garden could be on your block! Because of the incredible response to our two gardens, as mentioned before, there are nearly 50 people on wait lists for gardens in our area, with countless others presumably out there willing to garden as well. Therefore, the solution is clear: create more gardens! It’s a waste of human resources to leave people who want to garden out in the cold, but it is also can be a difficult and time-consuming project to get a garden up and running; even more importantly, to keep it that way. Luckily, we have a wealth of knowledge and resources to help us here in Passyunk Square, and all we need are some folks to step up and devote time to searching for the next location to be greened and gardened. There are good-sized tracts of land at 6^th and Tasker sts, on the 1400 block of Beulah St (between Reed & Dickinson, 7^th and 8^th), on the 1100 block of Greenwich St, and other smaller vacant lots throughout the neighborhood. One way to approach these spaces is to contact the property owners and ask their permission to use their land for a time; another method is to begin working and wait until something happens.

Tree Planting

PRESENT:

Since 2004, the Passyunk Square Civic Association has been one of the most well-respected and prolific tree planting groups in the entire city. In conjunction with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the TreeVitalize program, Passyunk Square became one of the first neighborhoods to do large-scale plantings of trees, often doing between 80-90 trees per planting. In the spring and the fall, volunteers donate their time, tools, food, and elbow grease to make our neighborhood more beautiful, healthy, and sustainable by planting street trees in locations applied for by residents throughout the area. In about 6 years of planting, Passyunk Square has planted over 600 trees, and imagining our neighborhood today, minus 600 trees, is almost unfathomable. Thank your neighbors and yourselves for the pride you’ve given to everyone! For information on how to get involved with helping to organize/volunteer for the next tree planting in November, to get an application to plant a tree for you or one of your neighbors, on help maintaining your trees, or any other tree questions/concerns, please contact Andrew Emma at andrewemma1@gmail.com.

FUTURE:

While our community has planted hundreds of trees with a large volunteer corps, the continued upkeep of these trees is of equal, if not greater important to the life of these trees. Helping to form a group of tree-tending neighbors who will help to water, prune, and mulch local trees is vital to the continued success of our tree plantings. Interested in joining in with this effort? Join our google group page by emailing passyunkbeautiful@googlegroups.com.

The following are some statistics on just how important trees are in a community setting.

“The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.”
-U.S. Department of Agriculture

“Trees can boost the market value of your home by an average of 6-7%.”
-Dr. Lowell Ponte

“Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent.”
-Management Information Services/ICMA

“One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.”
-U.S. Department of Agriculture

“There are about 60-to 200- million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO2 every year, and saving $4 billion in energy costs.”
-National Wildlife Federation

“Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20 – 50 percent in energy used for heating.”
-USDA Forest Service

“Trees can be a stimulus to economic development, attracting new business and tourism. Commercial retail areas are more attractive to shoppers, apartments rent more quickly, tenants stay longer, and space in a wooded setting is more valuable to sell or rent.”
-The National Arbor Day Foundation

“Shade from trees could save up to $175 per year (per structure) in air conditioning costs.”
-Dr. Lowell Ponte

“Healthy, mature trees add an average of 10 percent to a property’s value.”
-USDA Forest Service

“Nationally, the 60 million street trees have an average value of $525 per tree.”
-Management Information Services

“The planting of trees means improved water quality, resulting in less runoff and erosion. This allows more recharging of the ground water supply. Wooded areas help prevent the transport of sediment and chemicals into streams.”
-USDA Forest Service

“In laboratory research, visual exposure to settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension.”
-Dr. Roger S. Ulrich, Texas A&M University

Public Art

Promoting art in our area is an inexpensive, creative, and lively way to improve the aesthetic appeal of our neighborhood, and we have undertaken a variety of projects that aim to do just that.

Mosaics

Last summer, renowned mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar enlisted a few local volunteers to help him create a ‘sign’ at the entrance of Capitolo Playground at 9^th and Federal sts. His signature style of mosaic work has livened up the streetscape, and you can also see examples in our neighborhood on some businesses such as Black & Brew (1523 E. Passyunk Ave) and Kun-Yang Lin Dancers (1316 s 9^th st), as well as on walls at 10^th & Dickinson and 7^th & Reed sts. After completing the mosaic on the front of the Kun-Yang Lin building, which also had mosaic work on the building’s rear on Percy St, Zagar has also expressed an interest in mosaic-ing the entire 900 block of Percy St, a block that has often fallen victim to graffiti and short dumping. This project is in the early stages of development, but in the meantime, anyone with a wall on their home can email Isaiah and ask him to turn it into a work of art, at zero or minimal cost. Email him at info@philadelphiasmagicgardens.org or check him out on Facebook.

Mural Arts

The Mural Arts organization is world-renowned for creating amazing public art pieces in Philadelphia, and a wonderful example of their work is the tribute to local Philadelphia musicians at 9^th and Wharton sts on the South Philly Bar & Grill’s building. This summer, Mural Arts will begin on an even more ambitious project: to transform the main building at Capitolo Playground into a work of art, using both paint and mosaics, with help from volunteers in the community as well! Stay updated on the progress on this page, and in the meantime, because Mural Arts’ funding only covers two of the building’s walls, the remaining walls of the building (facing the basketball court and the softball field) are also in need of artistic expression. If you know of anyone with artistic merits who you think is up for the job, email us at beautification@passyunk.org.

Our Creative Side

Check out some of the more creative ideas that regular citizens have come up with as ways to green their homes and the sidewalks in front of them! Have a neighbor with a great beautification idea? Send us a photo at beautification@passyunk.org.

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