Last year, volunteers planted dozens of vibrant zinnias at Good Neighbors, a food pantry in East Providence. The cut flowers were wrapped in thick paper and twine to create stunning bouquets that were gifted to food pantry customers. “It brought tears to everyone’s eyes,” says Kevin Essington, founder and program manager of Bloom Rhode Island. “It was this moment where you’re using flowers to interact with someone and tell them they have value in an active way.”
The seed money for this flower-powered interaction came from one of many Bloom Rhode Island grants distributed over the past two years. Along with cut flower gardens, grants for individuals and small groups have transformed the landscape of neighborhoods in Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, and beyond with colorful flowers.
Getting plants in the ground is just the tip of the iceberg. Jeff Matteis, who runs Pearl Street Garden Collective on the Southside with Cristiane Caro, says the Bloom grant “allows us to utilize the money for the caring of the plants. They’ve given us that flexibility to invest in the maintenance piece.” The friends steward a plot of land provided to them by Yarrow Thorne, who founded The Avenue Concept, the organization responsible for producing many of the murals gracing city buildings.
On a warm summer day at their South Providence garden, it’s obvious that the small footprint does not deter the creativity and industriousness Matteis and Caro pour into the space, but fuels it. Every square foot belongs to projects that carry intention, from the raised beds where Caro is growing flax and nettle – which she’ll use to teach workshops on harvesting and processing plants into fiber – to the pollinator meadow of native plants abutting the fence, where the duo collects seeds to give to visitors on Sunday gatherings that are jokingly dubbed “church.”
The meadow appears to outgrow its boundaries, with vegetation leaking into the “hell strip” between the sidewalk and the curb, but even this is deliberate, to allow pedestrians on the sidewalk to feel like they’re walking through the garden. “This is often a space where it’s not clear who’s supposed to take care of it,” says Essington. “It gets so hot, because of the asphalt and concrete all around it, and the soil is so compact, making it a really hard place to grow things.”
But during a Bloom Network call on the topic of these strips last year, the group decided “hope strip” was more fitting. Before the network was established, there may not have been these kinds of opportunities to discuss the minutiae of urban growing – all of its challenges and pitfalls, as well as successes.
When Essington connected with a local philanthropist who wanted to invest in livable urban neighborhoods by improving parks and gardens, he discovered that many planting groups were all volunteer-run, over-committed, and not connected to each other. “I interviewed about 40 groups across the state who were doing this kind of work to find out what the challenges were, and we concluded that they would definitely benefit from a network,” says Essington. “I also heard that people are busy, and that grant funding would be a big help in starting that network.”
Since launching the program in April 2024, Bloom Rhode Island has bolstered 106 groups at 117 sites by distributing over $335,000 in funds and hosting regular meetings to brainstorm solutions, exchange knowledge, “and sometimes vent!” shares Essington. “We encourage everyone who wants to connect with other planting groups to join us on regular calls and subscribe to our newsletter.”
The Pearl Street Garden is not only a fully functional plot with everything from wildflowers to vegetable plants and perennial fruit trees, but also serves as a model for
regenerative land stewardship for groups and individuals with less experience. Matteis and Caro experimented with different amendments, like preparing the meadow site with compost tea and inoculating it with fungus – which resulted in only needing to water it once last year. In a workshop they hosted, students felted wool to use in a patch of the garden to experiment with its effectiveness in preventing weeds (the material also breaks down to provide nitrogen as a natural fertilizer). Caro is also testing wool pellets in one of two Japanese indigo beds, with promising results.
Through these methods, planters can “design for abuse” since plots may not receive regular care. “Urban sites are especially difficult to plant in,” Essington notes. “Every site is different, so we always encourage groups to work with an experienced gardener to make a plan that includes soil amendments and watering plans. This is a growing need as temperatures increase, and long droughts impact plantings.”
A stand-out section of the Pearl Street Garden is the Miyawaki microforest. In May, over 100 people came together to plant over 250 trees and shrubs in the 1,000-square-foot area in this collaboration with Groundwork RI. Matteis suspects that in two years, it will be too dense to walk through, and in five to 10 years, a mature forest ecosystem will provide shade and habitat in the unlikely home of
219 Pearl Street.
“When people think about urban community gardens, they tend to be focused on growing as much food as possible, and we want to provide space for that, too, but also inspire people with other possibilities,” says Matteis.
A community has naturally formed around the garden, with neighbors planting kale and cucumber seeds in available beds and one family turning heaps of tomatoes and peppers into salsa. Its sheer visibility has led to traffic-calming results, as folks slow down to see what it’s all about. Says Caro, “I’ve met more people during my last year of working here than I have in the eight years I’ve lived in Rhode Island. It’s been an incredible space to connect with people who are interested and who are doing similar work.”
In the fall, Bloom Rhode Island gives away crocus bulbs to plant before winter, yielding the first blossoms of the season to beckon spring. Last year, they provided 161,000 bulbs planted at 32 sites, with an anticipated 200,000 to be distributed this year. Groups can learn more about the Hope Springs giveaway and grant opportunities at BloomRhodeIsland.org.
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