May 2011

Howard Area Community Garden

Located on the northernmost street in Chicago, the Howard Area Community Garden is a unique triangle-shaped lots on Juneway Terrace where a diverse collection of gardeners come together to grow many kinds of plants in their community garden.

Greenhouse Garden

The residents of this area in the West Town neighborhood came together to turn an empty lot into a garden into a garden when they noticed a lone Chicago gardener started growing tomatoes in the spot.

Frankie Machine Garden

The East Village Association fought to take control of an empty lot lots that was a blight in their Chicago neighborhood and turned it into a community garden that the residents are now proud of.

El Coqui Garden

Named after Puerto Rico’s Coqui tree frog, El Coqui Garden is a school garden for the Von Humboldt Elementary School in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. Besides being a place where students learn the community garden has become a meeting place for neighborhood residents of all ages.

Drake Garden

On an empty lot in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, a group of ethnically diverse residents came together to build the Drake Garden on what was once the site of a synagogue.

Bowmanville Community Garden

Nestled against a wall of the Rosehill Cemetery sits the Bowmanville Community Garden in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. A young community garden that has seen many changes in just a few years.

African Heritage Garden

The African Heritage Garden in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood is a unique community garden in Chicago because it highlights plants that originated on the African continent and pay homage to this with a garden bed shaped like the African continent.

Community Exchange Garden

The “garden of hope” in the South Chicago neighborhood went through a period of decline as this Chicago block was overrun by street violence. Eventually, the residents and the Centro Communitario Juan Diego decided to take action and reclaimed their neighborhood, their lives and their garden.