HELPING: Rebuilding Together Baltimore

On Saturday, April 30, I will be working with Rebuilding Together Baltimore (RTB), a Baltimore non-profit that revitalizes communities and provides free home repairs for low-income homeowners in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. As part of RTB's work, they hold an annual Rebuilding Day in which volunteers undertake numerous projects in designated neighborhoods. This year, RTB is focusing on Pigtown.

As part of Rebuilding Together's beautification efforts in Pigtown, volunteers (myself included!) will be cleaning an existing "pocket park" and then planting new flowers and shrubs to turn the space into an attractive, healthy spot for the local community. But we need your help!

Pigtown Pocket Park at Present
I invite you to get involved and make this project the best it can be. We are seeking donations of plants, compost, fertilizer, mulch, and the like. In-kind donations are critical to Rebuilding Together's success by helping stretch limited resources.

These are the plants we are currently seeking, but will happily take anything that enjoys shade and moist soil.

• Sweet Joe Pye Weed - Eutrochium purpureum


• Japanese Skimmia - Skimmia japonica


• Bottlebrush Buckeye - Aesculus parviflora


• Mountain Laurel - Kalmia latifolia


• Carol Mackie Daphne - Daphne burkwoodii 'Carol Mackie'


• Dwarf Japanese Yew - Taxus cuspidata


• Sweet Pepper Bush, Summersweet - Clethra alnifolia


• Rosebay Rhododendron, Great Laurel - Rhododendron maximum


• Bleeding Heart - Dicentra spectabilis


• Lady’s Mantle - Alchemilla mollis


• Hairy Alumroot, Maple Leaf Alumroot - Heuchera villosa


• Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia serotina


• Eastern Purple Coneflower - Echinacea purpurea


• Hosta
• Woodland Phlox - Phlox divaricata subsp. Laphamii


• Lily Turf, Monkey Grass, Liriope - Liriope muscari


• Black Mondo Grass - Ophiopogon planiscapus

If you're able to help by donating one or more of the plants above, please contact Amanda Malone at Rebuilding Together Baltimore. If you have other plants that you think will flourish in a shady, moist location, those are welcome, too! Delivery of your donations to the garden site on April 30th would be a tremendous help, but local pick-up may be available. If you have a donation that you'd like to give, but are unable to bring it to Baltimore on Saturday, please contact me and let me know. I can arrange for pick-up during the week.

Thank you for helping us make this shady, neglected spot something fun and attractive for this deserving neighborhood! Nothing brings together a community as beautifully as a garden.