Volunteers showed up in force for Greenbelt’s Earth Day food forest planting on Saturday, April 23, at 10 a.m.
With new tools and 1,200 native plants, 40 volunteers were ready to literally dig into an area near the playground, putting in native flowers and grasses as directed by Greenbelt’s Environmental Coordinator, Kevin Carpenter-Driscoll.
“Forty is the largest group I’ve had since pre-pandemic time,” he said. “The native plants will provide food for caterpillars as host plants (including the turtlehead for the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, our state butterfly) and the seeds from the flowers will feed birds and small mammals aplenty.”
Mayor Emmett Jordan and Councilmembers Judith Davis and Kristen Weaver were among those helping with the planting. Jordan opened the event by talking about Earth Day and about the power of volunteering that he sees all the time.
“Volunteers are the force that really drives Greenbelt,” he said, praising the assembled gardeners for giving up their Saturday morning.
The volunteers worked with 18 different types of plants including false blue indigo, big bluestem prairie grass and scarlet beebalm. The plants were purchased using funds from a Keep Maryland Beautiful Grant from North Creek Nurseries, Carpenter-Driscoll said.
At the end of the event, volunteers were given City of Greenbelt reusable tote bags (also purchased with the KMB grant) and commemorative posters, donated by local wildlife photographer Graeme Simpson and designed by Greenbelter Jean Newcomb.